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THE
BLACKWATER CHRONICLE
A NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION INTO
T-HE LAND OF CANAAN,
IN RANDOLPH COUNTY, VIRGINIA,
A COUNTRY FLOWING WITH WILD ANIMALS, SUCH AS PANTHERS,
BEARS, WOLVES, ELK, DEER, OTTER, BADGER, &c., &c., WITH
INNUMERABLE TROUT-BY FIVE ADVENTUROUS GENTLE    IEN, WITHOUT ANY AID OF GOVERNMENT, AND SOLELY
BY THEIR OWN RESOURCES, IN THE SUMMER OF 1851.
T   I' (,t C1trk  nf xtufnr~ t."
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROH LIFE BY STROTHER,
R E D F I E L D
110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.
1853.
W-;-a — I g
K.IS-,     _,r
f
-i* 5. z 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853,
BY J. S. REDFIELD,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the
Southern District of New  York.
STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE,
13 Clhambers Street, N. Y.
., -i;'''
.           i  -      i    - 
:x~Iie- Y
Library
Univ. of W-ester 
OntAi3
APR 2 3'36
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory........................................... 5
CHAPTER II.
Getting under Way...................................... 15
CHIAPTER IIl.
In which the Expedition dances a Hornpipe on the Top of a
Mountain............................................. 24
CHAPTER IV.
The Cockneys explained by the Prior of St. Philips, from the
Top of the Allegany................................... 35
CHAPTER V.
Winston and its Castellan-Mr. Edward Towers............ 51
CHAPTER VI.
The Blacklwater Invasion determined upon.................. 63
CHAPTER VII.
The Dale on the Potomac- and a Somewhat Particular De  scription on the Array................................. 83
PAGE. 
~~~4  ~CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER VIII.
The March into the Canaan............................... 102
CHAPTER IX.
The Lodge in the Wilderness............................. 120
CHAPTER X.
The Blackwater Found- A Great Number of Trout taken
Mr. Butcut fries some Fish.......................... 130
CHAPTER XI.
The Blackwater Villa................................... 145
CHAPTER XII.
The Falls of the Blackwater..............................  159
CHAPTER XIII.
How we got out of the Canaan-and in Spite of our Teeth.. 181
CHAPTER XIV.
The Return to Winston- "Bootless Homne and Weather-beaten
Back."................................................ 209 
THE
BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
CHEAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
IF the reader will take down the map of Virginia,
and look at Randolph county, he will find that the
Blackwater is a stream that makes down from the
north into the Cheat river, some few miles below
the point where that river is formed by the junction of the Dry fork, the Laurel fork, and the Glade
fork-the Shavers, or Great fork, falling in some
miles below: all rising and running along the western side of the Backbone of the Alleganies.
The country embraced by these head-waters of
the Cheat river is called "The Canaan"-a wilderness of broken and rugged mountains-its streams
falling through deep clefts, or leaping down in great
cataracts, into the Cheat, that sweeps the base of
the Backbone. 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
It is to the Blackwater, one among the largest of
these streams of the Canaan, that we purpose to
take the reader. If, therefore, his fancy urges him
to the venture, let him come with us. All he has
to do is to set himself down in his easy-chair, and
lend us his ears. By the magic of this scroll we
shall take him.
This Blackwater (it should be called Amberwater), and north source of the Cheat, rises high up on
the western slope of the Backbone, directly across
from the Fairfax stone-where the head-spring of
the Potomac has its source on this the eastern side
of the mountain; and it is supposed that these headwaters of the two rivers are not more than some
half a mile (or mile at most) apart. The Backbone,
following a general course from north to south, here
turns at almost a right-angle, and takes across to
the eastward some fifteen miles, when it regains its
former southerly direction, thus forming a zigzag
in its course. At the point where it first makes the
bend to the east, a large spur- apparently the Backbone itself-keeps straight to the south, and butts
down on the Cheat, at the distance of some ten or
twelve miles. Between this large spur and the
point where the Backbone bends to the south again,
is contained the cove of mountains which is called
the Canaan. This region of country is in the very
highest range of the Alleganies, lying in the main
some three thousand feet above the level of the sea.
6 
INTRODUCTORY.
Utntil a few years past, the whole of the district
embraced by the head-waters of the Potomac and
the Cheat was as remote and inaccessible as any
part of the long range of the Alleganies. But some
few years ago, the state of Virginia constructed a
graded road from Winchester to Parkersburg, which
passes over the Backbone through the Potomac limits; and consequently this portion of the district
has become opened out somewhat to the knowledge
of the world, and has since been settled to a considerable extent. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad
also passes near here-at a distance from the headwaters of the Potomac varying from ten to twenty
miles. The railroad will bring all this region within
a day's travel of the seaboard; and as the country
lies about the head of the Maryland glades —in
themselves a source of attraction-and contains
within its range many tracts of land of great fertility
and beauty, it is not irrational to suppose that it
will be cleared out and settled with rapidity.
As it is, there is a good settlement around here
already-the result, in the main, of the construction of the Northwestern road. Long, however, before this road was made, there was a Mr. Smith who
pitched his tent in these wilds some fifty years or
more ago, I am informed, and cleared out and improved a handsome estate for himself, lying along
the Maryland shore of the Potomac, and containing
some fifteen hundred acres of fine land of varied
71 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
hill and dale. The Smiths are now gone, and the
estate has passed into other hands. In the older
times a tavern was kept here, for the accommodation of the few people who crossed these mountains.
But when the northwestern road came by, the marvels of a good highway were made manifest in the
increased travel, that soon became too great for the
capabilities of the once-unfriended inn. About this
period, a gentleman from the city of Washington,
journeying this way to escape the heats of the seaboard, was so taken with the pleasant temperature
of the air and the wild beauty of the mountains,
that he bought the place-impelled somewhat
thereto, no doubt, by the trout in the streams and
the deer in the forests. Under his rule a new house
was erected, large enough to hold a goodly company.  This is the house-fair enough to look upon
in its outside array, and comfortable enough within
-that now stands imposing, not far away from the
old one, on the brow of a lofty hill overlooking the
Potomac.  "Winston" thie place is called-so called
because the eighty-seventh milestone from Winchester is won when you reach its door. Edward Towers keeps it-or did, when the Blackwater expedition won the stone. Here, for some years past, many of our citizens, of both Virginia and Maryland,
have been in the habit of resorting in the summer
and fall months, to fish for trout, hunt the deer,
shoot pheasants, wild turkeys, woodcock in their
8 
INTRODUCTORY.
season, and enjoy the invigorating atmosphere of a
country whose level is so high above the sea.
The ride to this place over the Northwestern road
is exquisitely delightful, and withal as easy as a
ride can well be. You travel over a graded slate
road - the perfection of a summer highway - engineered skilfully, and at but a low grade, through
the gorges and defiles of these fine mountains, and,
when crossing any of them, seeming to have been
carried over purposely at those points where the
scenery is of the grandest or most beautiful character. Take it altogether, for the excellence of the
road, and the varied combinations of scenery that
are ever presenting themselves to view, there is no
route across the mountains anywhere that excels it.
With a pair of good horses in a light carriage, you
can speed along all the way as if you were taking
an evening drive about your home, even though
your home be where the roads are the best in the
land. And then, what exhilaration of spirit is felt
by you as you roll smoothly along at the rate of
some ten miles an hour, your horses scarcely stretching a trace- seeming merely to keep out of the
way of the wheels! -on one side of you a deep
gorge, a thousand feet down, dark with hemlocks
and firs, where a mountain-stream breaks its way to
the sea; above you, high-towering peaks and overhanging cliffs, where the oak or stately fir has cast
anchor, and held on for ages in defiance of all the
I*
9 
THiE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
storms of the Alleganies; while before you, afar off,
glittering in the sunshine, are seen in glimpses the
green fields and meadows of some fair, luxuriant
valley; and the whole horizon bounded by lofty
mountains that seem to defy all approach, but which
you at length wind your way through by some concealed cleft, the bed of a stream, with scarcely any
more of obstruction than a bowling-green would
present to your glowing wheels.
There are but few things more agreeably exciting
to the spirits than a rapid drive through the country on a good road. There are some who will not
assent to this proposition; but they are not to be
deferred to in these matters of fastness, and do not
understand the philosophy of the human soul. " The
power of agitation upon the spirits," says Dr. Johnson, " is well known. Every manl has felt his heart
lightened by a rapid drive or a gallop on a swift
horse." This might be only a little closet philosophy of the sturdy old despot of letters, maintained
in theory but belied in practice, like our famous
doctrine of state-rights here in Virginia; but we
have it on record that the rough old viking of our
English literature considered it one of the prime felicities of his life to ride in a stage-coach, even at
the rate of speed attainable in his day.  If one of
the soundest moral philosophers that any age or
country has produced can be shown as both theoretically and practically enforcing the happiness of
10 
INTRODUCTORY.
rapid motion- at least to the extent that could be
achieved by an English stage-coach, and over the
comparatively rude thoroughfares leading out of
London a hundred years ago- ante Agalernnona,
that is, before M'Adam-how much more delightfutl must be the agitation of your spirits, and the
consequent lightening of your heart, when the atmosphiere you breathe, as you drive smoothly along
behind a pair of untiring thoroughbreds, is the very
purest, and the scenes around you are among the
grandest or most beautiful of a whole continent!
And all this too, recollect, with a splendid craving
all over you-feeling it even at your finger-ends
everywhere- for food: visiolns of venison-steaks,
and hot rolls, and fresh summer butter, made where
the meadows  are "with  daisies pied," floating
through your crowded and hunger-enraptured brain
- and with the certainty, too, all the while in your
mind, that you can not apparently kill this craving
for the time being with anything in the shape of a
breakfast, dinner, supper, or what not, but it will
be all powerful again upon you in some three or
fou     r          hours!-  an appetite seemingly endowed with
the quality of the phoenix, that out of its own ashes
renews itself
"revives and flourishes,
Like that self-begotten bird,
In the Arabian woods embossed"
not surpassed by anything of the sort that we have
11 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONIOLE.
on record-not by Sancho Panza's, nor by Rittmaster Dugald Dalgetty's, nor yet that of the mighty heroes of the Iliad  aptly to describe which the
genius of Homer was only equal, when the divine
old bard sings of it as the sacred rage of hunger.
If any mortal of these sated days would wish
fully to appreciate what this Hiomeric rage is, let
him take this ride to the Alleganies; and though
he should be of a nobler spirit than Esau, yet will
hlie in his inmost soul commiserate that poor devil
for having sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
12  
HiT-         HHHIN.T
I 
GETTING UNDER WAY.
CHAPTER II.
GETTING UNDER WAY.
'The stout earl of Northumberland
A vow to God did make,
His pleasure on the Scottish ground
Three summer days to take."
THE stout Earl Percy, here alluded to, did take
his pleasure on the Scottish ground- and how, all
the world knows that has read the fine old ballad
of "Chevy Chase." Hlow the stout gentlemen, and
also those who were none of the stoutest, who took
their pleasure on the Blackwater, camne off, hearken
to the following chronicle, and you shall learn.
It was toward the first of June last past, that a
number of gentlemen, residing near each other, in
a pleasant part of that rich valley vaunted to the
world as the garden of Virginia, and called by the
people of the mountain-ranges back of it the land
oqf Egypt, from the quantity of grain which it produces, determined to make a pleasure expedition
into the Allegany country, having it chiefly in view
to harry its streams for trout. Accordingly, on one
fine morning-it was on the last day of the univer
15 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
sally-lauded month of May —we gathered together,
prepared as best we knew how for the expedition.
It was at the pleasant country-dwelling of Mr.
Peter Botecote, one of our number, that we made
our rendezvous:
"And Wat of Harden came thither amain,
And thither came John of Thirlestane,
And thither came William of Deloraine"and all the rest of us-men, dogs, and horses.
Here, after some animnated parley, and an early dinner, it was resolved that we should forthwith take
our departure, notwithstanding the strawberries that
were ripe in the garden, and the cream that was
abounding in the dairy, and what too was far more
delaying, the fascination of our lady-hostess. Pleasant enough this bower of Botecote's; but hope smiled
its enchantmnents upon us far away, from the very
midst of the wild Alleganies, and our hearts were
too much agog and all a-tiptoe with its illusions, to
think of staying. The delirium of the mountains
was upon us; and so, amid the neighing and pawing of horses, the speeding to and firo of servants,
the dancing eyes of children, and the wife's halfsorrowful smile as she committed her adventurous
husband to the destiny of a two or three weeks' separation, we wheeled into order, and took up the line
of march. " Hey!"-" Get away!"-" Ho!"-" Ha,
you dog!"-whips flourishing, dogs barking —all
the commotion that a country-gentleman's establish
16 
GETTING UNDER WAY.
ment could well get up; every good spirit attending, to say nothing of the high ones: thus we left
the Botecote portals, and
"All the blue bonnets are over the border I"
We drove to Winchester, a town when George
II. was king here in Virginia: not one of your recent cities, grown up to a hundred thousand people
within the memory of men alive, but an old, timehonored town, of some five thousand souls, with re membrances about it; familiar to the footsteps of
Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax, when he lived at
Greenway court (some ten miles off), and held pow er as lieutenant of the county of Frederick, hunted
the boar, wrote for " The Spectator," and set twenty
covers daily at his table: famous, too, in our provin cial history, as the military headquarters of Wash ington during the war of'65'against the French for
the possession of the western country. Hlere, to
this old border stronghold of the Dominion, where
the dismantled ramparts of Fort Loudon still look
down upon the town, we drove over night, a matter
of some twenty miles, ready to make a more sus tained movement the next morning on Winston some eighty-seven miles distant,.as already stated,
on the Northwestern road.
The expedition travelled in three light carriages,
such as are commonly called wagon's, all tight and
sound, freshly washed, oiled, and rubbed, and glit
17 
18        THlE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
tering in the sun "like images:" each wagon drawn
by a vigorous trotter in fine condition, and able on
a good road easily to make such time as would have
satisfied Dr. Johnson, even though his philosophy
of happiness should have required a greater speed
than ten miles an hour.  We were five in all: the
sixth didn't go, that gentleman having failed us by
the way, owing to some anxieties he entertained
about trusting himself so high up on the continent.
But no matter; we were yet five.  There was
Mr. Peter Botecote,' generally called Butcut by
his familiars-sometimes But;
Mr. Guy Philips, the Master of the priory of St.
Philips: hence familiarly the master, sometimes the
Prior, and occasionally " the county Guy;"
Triptolemus Todd, Esq., our Murad the Unlucky,
and sometimes Trip;
Doctor Adolphus Blandy, physician to the expedition: Galen he was called for short;
And the Signor Andante Strozzi, our artist, also
amateur musician.  
Mr. Perry Winkle, jocosely called by his friends,
in one syllable, Perrywin7kle, is the name of the
gentleman who did't go - which we  mention
here that he may not altogether escape'immortality-and would also give his likeness, were it
not for a well-founded apprehension that'it might
too much divert the attention of the reader from
our narrative. 
GETTING UNDER WAY.
The array, it will be perceived from the naming,
is somewhat imposing, and gives promise of something to be done and said out of the common.
Truly, this record of the performnance need not fall
short of the promise, if the ambitious chronicler
can succeed, by any happy art, in anything like a
history that shall be a just impress- an impress
of the body and soul -of the expedition. Thucydides hit it, in his narrative of Tlte Sailinqg for
Sicily, also in  Tlte Landi?ng  of Alcibiades at
Athens; Livy, in that part of his twenty-first book
which we've got, and no doubt in the remainder
of it, if we could only find it; Segur, in the retreat
from Moscow; Macaulay, in the landing of the
prince of Orange, and the  march  on London;
Voltaire's Charles the Twelfth, too, ought not to be
passed over in this enumeration; nor yet Sallust's
little narrative of Catiline. Let us add another to
the illustrious roll, by writing the Blackwater Narrative up to the immortal standard.
Deserted, then, by Mr. Perrywinkle, we  were
yet five in number; all good men and true, and
of unusually diversified character and appearance:
none of us to be called old in years, but old enough
in the ups and downs, and ins and outs of this world,
having made "many hair-breadth'scapes by flood
and field," by town and country, by man and woman also, in our time - even the more youthful
Triptolemus, who has killed in his time several
19 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
good pointers in shooting partridges, and some few
years ago shot himself in the right knee -which
will account for his lameness in these pages. With out mincing matters too much, we will speak it out
freely, that we were all men of some mark and
likelihood, as men go; and although the world
might not judge us (which it is our opinion it
would make a great mistake in not doing) as "fit
to stand by Cesar in a tented field," there can be
no doubt that it would hold us all, if it had the
honor of our acquaintance, as fit to sit by that
"foremost man of all the world," at a dinner or a
supper, at any rate.
We will take the liberty of saying, however,
with great modesty, and begging pardon of everybody, and especially of the old Romans, that if
"the mightiest Julius" had been along with us
upon this expedition, he would have found the
passage into the country of the Blackwater a far
more fatiguing enterprise than any of his incursions into the countries of the Allobrogi, or Nervii,
or Acquitanii, or Boii, or any other of those outsiders, against whom the elegant and captivating
greatest Roman marched.
It will not be amiss here to mention, that we
travelled upon our inroad very much  after the
fashion in which Caesar went upon his. Grave
History has not thought it beneath her dignity to
record how the great master of the Roman world
20 
GETTING UNDER WAY.
went upon his depredations; and it is one of her
condescensions for which we are very much obliged
to her. It is therefore, we know, among other things
of this elegant and all-accomplished subverter of the
republic and founder of the fourth and last universal empire, that he rode in a carriage upon his
forays. This carriage was called a r'Aeda, "a sort
of gig or curricle," says a recent very distinguished
authority, Mr. De Quincey, "a four-wheeled carriage, and adapted to the conveyance of about half
a ton."' This, the reader will perceive, is in and
about our modern wagon; and we have no doubt,
if the matter were fairly investigated, it would be
ascertained that the rheda of the Roman is the
prototype of the wagon of the American: it's a
four-runner at any rate.  Julius used this carriage,
we are informed, because it enabled him to take
with him the amount of equipment that was essential to his elegant and patrician habits: his various
mantles-for instance, the one he overcame the
Nervii in, which he preserved and wore many
years after in the city, and was the same in which
the envious Casca made the rent, that Shakspere
and Casca between them have made so immortal;
his bandboxes, in which he kept the wreaths he
wore around his head, as our ladies do now on
festival occasions- the ivy, the laurel, the oak
wreaths, and what others I know not; his bathing
apparatus, brushes, soaps, &c.; his unguents and
21 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
perfumes, with the various ancient Roman balms
for the cure of baldness. The rheda was adjusted
to the convenient transportation of these essentials
of an elegant Roman gentleman of that day: and
so the wagon to the wants of the daintiest gentlem an of this.
It will be perceived, therefore, that our expedition has many points of resemblance to those so
famous of the splendid Romnan. It was depredatory
in the first place. It combined, in the second, about
an equal comnmingling of the luxurious and the roughand-tumble. Thirdly: considering that it took the
field about nineteen centuries later than Caesar's,
there is a very remarkable resemblance between
the vehicles used in both. Fourthly: in one single
engagement, fought on the Blackwater, and which
lasted only about two hours, no less than four hundred and ninety some odd of the enemy were slain,
and what is more, fully a hundred of them eaten
next thing to alive: and this, we take it, will compare with anything done in Gaul. Lastly: the wild
tribes that infested the Alleganies, fled before our
arms; many a flying army of deer owed their lives
to the mercy of the invaders; the badgers and the
otters -a feeble people, yet sagacious and wary -
we laid ourselves out to take by policy, that is entrap them, as Csesar did the like people of Gaul;
and had not the fierce panthers, the rude bears,
the prowling wolves, and the other warlike inhab
22 
GETTING UNDER WAY.
itants of these untamed forests, betaken themselves
to their fastnesses, and there remained with a savage
fortitude that defied hunger all the time we were
out, we should have vanquished them with as great
slaughter as befell the Boii, and Nervii, the Hielvetians, the Acquitanii, Vercingetorix, Orgetorix,
Dumnorix, Benorix, and all the other Orixes, at the
hands of Julius —roasted and devoured some of
them too, next thing to alive.
But enough. The reader is, no doubt, by this
time, impressed with a due sense of the dignity of
our undertaking. Let us not then any longer dally
with our narrative, but hasten on to the field of our
renown.
23 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
CHAPTER III.
IN WHICH THE EXPEDITION DANCES A HORNPIPE ON
THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN.
AFTrER an early breakfast at about sunrise, we
left the hotel in Winchester on the morning of the
1st of June; and taking out the Northwestern road,
we went on our way rejoicing. Passing through
the North mountain, five miles out, where it breaks
down almost on a level with the valley we had just
left, we entered fairly into the mountain regionwhence it is nothing but chain after chain, until
you cross over the broad belt to the great, spreading,
western, shining plain, watered by the Mississippi
and its tributaries.
For several hours we travelled along without
stint or stay, filled with the bliss of this first morning of June. Our horses tread the ground lightly,
vigorous and nimble-footed, no touch of weariness
yet upon them; and our swift wheels turn with
scarce-perceptible sound-a mere low hum along
the slaty road. Delicious is the summer's day, delicious to both soul and sense! No poet's dream of
June was ever so enchanting. It has rained over
24 
THE EXPEDITION DANCES A HORNPIPE.
night, and fresh and fragrant everywhere is the
morning. The forest-leaves are all washed clean as
the waters of heaven can make them, and the grasses are more delicately green in their renewal. The
rain-drops, not yet dried up, sparkle all over the
forest, in the glittering sunshine, like beads of pearl.
All nature, animate and inanimate - on four legs,
two, or none- feels the heavenly influence of the
hour. The woods are vocal with the rapturous voice
of birds. The wild-flowers' the wild-rose and the
wood-violet, the gorgeous laurel, and the sweet elderbloom-in all their freshened glory, give their delicate perfumes to the liberal air, and their hues of
heaven to the enraptured sight. The streams, sometimes crossing our path, and sometimes flowing on
by our side-seeming to go with us whichever way
we go-flowing on adown the dell or by the rifted
rock, and all embowered with shrubs and tangled
vines: these sing their sweet songs tuneful to the
ear, until at length, ecstasy- born of the murmuring waters, the balm of the air, the glory of the
wild-flowers, the warble of the birds, and the smooth
velocity of your rheda-enters into the heart, and
pervades your countenance with a radiance that is
almost divine.
Thus full of all joy that is born of summer and
the mountains, we speed on our way-to happiness
and to Winston! On we drive, over the smooth
road, through gorge, and dell, and valley, when by
25
2 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
and-by we ascend a mountain, winding up its side
like the track of a snake, until we reach the top.
Here a magnificent panorama of distant-blending
valleys and mountains piled on mountains, breaks
suddenly on our view; and, seized with a shouting
spirit of exultation
"We call a halt, and make a stand,
And cry,' St. George for merry England!"'
meaning thereby this all-hailed land of ours, which
the patriotic reader will of course understand.
The day is now some four hours old by the shadow; and before yet the last echoes of our voices 
have died away in the hills and rocks around, a
wayfarer, all in minstrel array bedight, walked in
wearily among us.  Hfe called a halt, and made a
stand, too, on the mountain's brow.  This was a wmndering Italian, with his hand-organ strapped to his
back, who had ascended from the other side; and
it was not long before he had unburdened himself
of his bread-winner, and given us a specimen of
what his art could do.  His instrument was a very
good one, and our imaginations had by this time
thrown around him an air of romance and poetry.
Had we encountered him in the streets of a city, he
would have been nothing more than an ordinary
strolling minstrel to us; but here, in the forest, his
music struck upon the ear pleasantly enough, and
brought to its aid much poetic association. It sound
26
.,-I 
THE FXPEDITION DANCES A HORNPIPE.
ed of the days when the old harper begged his bread
from door to door: and the hand-organ is already
half-elevated into tIle harp, and he who turns it has
a soul alive to poetry and song. Happy power of
illusion! it is better than gold in gilding this bare
life- this life so bare and hard to the pure reason,
so full of charm to the imagination!
Thus idealizing the hand-organ and the very goodlooking, rather handsome man, who turned it, we
now left our wagons; and, out in the road, and face
to         face, we hold friendly parley with the stranger.
The  wandering minstrel is a Neapolitan; and the
Signor Strozzi, our artist,,lad of a chance to refresh
himself with a little Italian, immediately enlarges
upon the renowned city-its towers and palaces,
the bay, the towns around, and the neighboring volcano  lurid in the heavens.  Not unmindful of his
country, there is moisture in the eye of the minstrel, and something very like a tear is on his cheek.
There is something sympathetic in all show of feeling; and when the prior of St. Philips repeated in
feeling tones the song of the harper in Rokeby
"Wo came with war, and want with wo,
And it was mine to undergo
Each outrage of the rebel foe:
Can aught atone
My fields laid waste, my cot laid low?
My harp alone!
"Ambition's dreams I've seen depart,
Have rued of penury the smart,
27 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
Have felt of love the venomed dart, 2
When hope was flown;
Yet rests one solace to my heart -
My harp alone!
"Then o'er mountain, moor, and hill,
My faithful harp, I'll bear thee stil],
And when this life of want and ill
Is well nigh gone,
Thy strings mine elegy shall thrill,
My harp alone!"
when the feeling prior, here on the mnountain's brow,
crooned forth these verses- the ruined exile standing tired before him, with his arm thrown over his
bread-winner-let the susceptibility to emotion be
here recorded of the expedition, which made us
draw forth our purses and give to this rude votary
of the "joyous science" more silver and-gold than
he had gathered in a week in all his roaming. We
were as good as two or three villages to him.
Having, however, some latent, half shame-prompted idea that we might be indulging a little too much
in a sentimental luxury, incompatible with the manly and somewhat rough, Runic character of our enterprise, we daffed aside these softer emotions, and
struck off into a lighter and gayer strain, more in
keeping with the actual state of the case around us.
And so the Neapolitan, Jacomo, assumed once more
his usual professional bearing, and struck his lyre
to the strains that nightly over the earth swell the
hearts of those who worship at the feet of Terpsichore-that is, he played us some waltzes and
28
41-1
11 
THE EXPEDITION DANCES A HORNPIPE.
polkas. And presently we all began to dance-the
little figures in the glass case in front of the organ,
and we on the slaty summit of the mountain-road.
/ i' A
.. ] I
,'I
t,
~~            '//j\                   ___                                 \
Away we go, in fine accord with the minstrelsey
now waltzing together in bold sweeps around the
brow of the mountain; and now, with arms akimbo,
dancing a polka, in many mazy gyrations, after the
most approved manner of executing that dance, as
it was first exhibited by the ballet-people at our
theatres, before yet it became fashionable in high
life. The whole affair we concluded with Fis8her's
hornpipe, through which we capered with such surprising agility as was never before or since made
manifest on the top of any mountain in the United
29
I
i
/'
I.. 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
States-or, probably, at the bottom of any one
either. As we danced, we all sang, too, in accompaniment with the strains, thus doubly taxing our
powers. The dust flew, and rose into the heavens;
Jacomo's black eye sparkled as he swiftly turned
his crank. The scene was as intense as the race
down the quarter stretch between Eclipse and Henry, when North and South hung suspended on the
strife. We swam the very air agile and swift-bounding-some of us-as the antelope; others with a
strained, incongruous jerking and ponderous agility, very much like what might be supposed of a
buffalo in a hornpipe. Even the lame leg of Murad
the Unlucky might be caught a glimpse of, every
now and then, flying about in the midst of the hurlyburly as something independent of anybody present: in our American vernacular, it seemed to be
going it on its own hook.  The horses drew up
around us with their wagons, and, with ears bent
forward, and fascinated gaze, looked on in pleased
wonderment.  FisAer's /oripipe is perhaps one of
the fastest tunes now known in all Christendom;
and yet, fast as we danced it, we sang it. It was
thus the wild descant rang through the forest:
"Did you ever see the devil,
With his iron wooden shovel,
A scratching up the gravel,
With his nightcap on?
30 
TIIE EXPEDITION DANCES A HORNPIPE.
"No, I never saw the dev
With his iron wooden s]
A scratching up the gra
With his nightcap on."
[Repeated twice. ]
"Did you ever, ever, ever,
Ever, ever, ever, ever,
Ever, ever, ever, ever,
Catch a whale by the tail 
"No, I never, never, never,
Never, never, never, never,
Never, never, never, never,
Caught a whale by the tail."
[Repeated twice.]
The echoes around take up our voices at every
pause for breath; the mountains, as in the old
Bil)ie times, cry aloud for joy; and ever see the
devil, and nightcap on, and whtale by the tail,
in the cadence of the hornpipe, are repeated far
and near, until at length the uproar dies away-in
some far remote dell, a last faint, feeble sound of
w/hale... tail, lingering for a moment on the ear,
and all is hushed: the echoes have gone to sleep
again, and nothing breaks upon the stillness of the
mountains, save the lazy sound of the summer
wind, that is itself almost silence.
Somewhat fagged and out of breath, we now
once more took to our wagons, the horses by this
time well rested; and leaving the Neapolitan, disconsolate Jacomo, standing irresolute on the mountain's brow, we swept down the windings of the
31 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
highway, at the rate of some twelve miles to the
hour-Jacomo still standing motionless as a picture, as we entered a wild defile of the forest, and
for ever lost him to the sight. Winding our way
over a broken range of picturesque hills, we at
length entered a ravine, down which a clear, sparkling stream hunts its course to a neighboring river.
Hiere are some very remarkable cliffs of a pure
white sandstone, which is in some demand among the
nicer housekeepers of. Winchester and Romney for
scouring purposes. Into the base of one of these
cliffs, a large excavation has been made, where the
rock is so purely white, that it suggests to you tlhe
idea of a quarry of the finest loaf-sugar. Passing
these loaf-sugar cliffs, we drove on leisurely down
the cool ravine, by the banks and through the fords
of the silvery stream, when presently we emerged
from the deep shadows of some thickly-clustered
hemlocks and pines into the light of day, and
found ourselves before the tavern door of Mr.
Charles Blue. Here we stopped to feed and rest
our horses for some two or three hours-taking
care, in the meantime, to regale ourselves with such
delicacies of fried chickens, broiled ham and eggs,
and fresh butter and milk, as the house afforded us.
About two o'clock - the day being still pleasant,
and without any burdensome heat - we took to the
road again; and after some two hours' travel, through
the green valleys and over other mountains, we at
32 
THE EXPEDITION DANCES A HORNPIPE.
length came in sight of the little town of Romney,
beautifully situated upon a sloping plateau of land
that lies back of the high banks and bluffs of the
South Branch; the river here flowing along in all
its winding lines of beauty- on through rich bottoms and bold over-hanging mountains, to its junction with the Potomac.
Somewhere about four o'clock- after descending
a long and beautiful sweep of road, grand enough
in all its features to be the avenue to some lordly
city -we drove up to the door of the village inn
(the old Virginia designation is ordinary), situated
pleasantly on the main street of Romney, and kept
by Mr. Armstrong, formerly a member of Congress
from this district, but who has for some years past
chosen the better part- shaken the dust of the capitol from his feet, and commanded the respect and
good will of all considerate people who travel this
way, by the manner in which he discharges his present representative duty to the public. In this Vmfortable inn, we took our ease for the rest of the
day, having accomplished just forty-four miles over
those mountains, since first we drew rein in the
morning.
HIow the Signor Strozzi was taken by some of
the good people of Romney for an Italian revolutionist-how Doctor Blandy built a very remarkable castle in the air, that from a neighboring
eminence commanded the South Branch valley
33
2* 
34        THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
how Mr. Butcut set the porch in a roar, at a story
he told of some cockneys who came over to New
York to hunt bears about that city; how the
Prior discoursed eloquently on Lucerne grass and
the ancients; how Triptolemus, when the levee we
held on the porch was at the highest, called everybody by somebody else's name; how we passed
altogether a very cheerful and gay evening of it,
among the social citizens of Romney, who did us
the honor to make our acquaintance -we will not
detain the reader by setting forth in full in these
pages, but here end this chapter, and with it the
narrative of the evening. 
TIHE COCKNEYS EXPLAIN,D.
CIHAPTER IV.
TtIE COCKNEYS EXPLAINED BY THE PRIOR OF ST. PHIL       IPS) FROM THE TOP OF THE ALLEGANY.
WHAT time the skylark plumed his wing, the expedition awoke from its slumbers, and betimes arose;
what time the sun peeped into the easements of the
village hostel, it sat triumphant over a routed breakfast-table, and, like Alexander, sighed that it had
no more to conquer. In this condition, he of Macedon took to drink-but we to our wagons, with a
good-by to pleasant PRomney.
The morning was delightfully bracing. Whether
it was the mountain-air, or the mountain-oats, that
inspired them, our horses carried themselves as
proud as reindeers, and went down the main street
of Romney with a free swing, fully up to the requirements of the Dr. Johnson philosophy in this
matter.  As we crossed the high plain to the bluffs
of the river, the scenery of the South-Branch valley
was just developing into expression-the mountain
in bold masses, the winding river with its mists, the
rich bottoms striped with cornfields, the long range
of brown cliffs in the distance, and in the foreground
35 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
the high plain on which sat the picturesque town:
all in striking contrasts of light and shade; the dark
shadows of the mountains, and the golden mists of
the river; the spangled dewdrops on the meadows,
and the funeral drapery of the pine-forests; Apollo,
from his chariot of the sun, elimning some new glory
of the picture, as he drove on up the steeps of the
skies.
This glimpse of the sunrise-picture was all we
saw, for it is but a mile from the town to the bluffs
of the river, and these we have already gained.  We
now descended from the table-land, and crossed the
South Branch by a good bridge. With the river on
one side and the overhianging mountain on the other,
we drove on for a mile or so; when we turned off,
and passed through the mountain on almost a deadlevel road, winding along the side of a stiream that
here makes its way through a deep cleft to the river.
For some fifteen miles the road is a beautiful one -
smooth, and of easy grade in its gradual rise toward
the Alleganies; now hugging the hills, now following the bends of the streams, now through valleys
spotted with farmhouses and green with luxuriant
grass. At length we came to the Knobley, which
we ascended, passing through a hamlet scattered
carelessly along the cultivated slopes of the mountain. This mountain presents a very remarkable outline, being a succession of high knobs or peaks with
intervening low depressions, giving it the appear
36 
THE COCKNEYS EXPLAINED.
ance of an indented castle-wall. Through one of
these depressions we crossed, and descended by easy
traverses to the other side. For a mile or so we
wound our way through the defiles of a broken
range of hills, and emerged at length into a narrow
and beautifully-picturesque valley- the Allegany
piled up in grand masses on one side, and the road
running for some miles along the banks of a clear,
rapid stream, known hereabouts as New-creekjust such a stream, so wild and cool, as the imagination would fill with trout a foot and a quarter
long, and some four inches deep behind the shoulders.
By the side of the sparkling creek, with (no doubt)
trout to be had for the casting of a fly, or the impaling of a worm, we found a large and comfortable
brick house, where a Mr. Reese keeps an inn highly
spoken of in these parts for its excellent accommodations. At the base of the Allegany stands invitingly the mountain-embowered inn. In firont of
this is the clear, cool, wild, dancing stream; and up
beyond this again, rises with bold ascent, almost at
right-angles to the water, a richly-wooded spur of
the Allegany, colored with all-blended hues of green,
firom the pale tea-color of the mountain-ash, to the
dark, grand, gloom green, almost invisible green,
of the clustered fir-trees and hemlocks-these the
nobler pines that niore particularly distinguish the
forests of the Allegany ranges.
37 
THE BLACKWATEIR CHRONICLE.
From Reese's house, at the base, it is seven miles
to the top of the Allegany -something of an Olympus to the warts behind us.  Mindful of our horses,
we gird up our loins for the encounter, and take to
the heaven-kissing hill afoot. Half-way up there is
a fountain of pure spring-water caught in a rude
trough by the roadside; and men and horses gather
around, and revel in the mountain hippocrene. The
lookout from here is already grand. Far and wide
you behold the land we have travelled. On we go
again, up and up, still up; and the air you breathe
is freer, and the scene wilder and yet more widely
revealed at every turn of the road, rounding each
rocky promontory that juts the mountain-side.
In something more than two hours we reached
the toll-gate, situated near the summit of the ridge,
and commanding a prospect of all the land lying
abroad to the eastward. This is one of the grandest
and most diversified mountain-scenes in the whole
range of our country: mountains piled on mountains everywhere, of every variety of size and shape,
with all their valleys, glens, gorges, dells, and narrow defiles -all yet varied by the changing light
and shade that falls upon them from the heavensas the heavens are ablaze with sunshine, or swept
by passing summer-clouds.
Altogether it is such a scene as seldom meets the
eye. At once its glory has entered into the heart
and fired the imagination, and we are a thousand
38 
THE COCKNEYS EXPLAINED.
times over repaid for the long, toilsome ascent that
has given it to us.  To view it aright, it should be
seen under all changing aspects: at the dawn and
the sunrise; under the earlier and the later shadows
of the morning; when the midday blaze has made
it all dreamy as an ocean unmoved; as the shadows
lengthen upon it in the evening; as the gloom of
the twilight gathers over it. To see it in its greatest sublimity, you should be here when, bare of leaf,
and all rugged in its disclosure, it is terrible with
the howling storms of winter-storms sweeping
dreadfully both the heavens and the earth!
Yet, even in a half-hour's glance, much will be
written upon the mind that can never be effaced;
and this "dim spot, that men call earth," will be
ever after greatly dignified to your appreciation. A
scene thus ennobling, let us not pass away from it
too lightly. Let us portray it, even though it be
with such indistinct limning as the few moments we
loitered at the toll-gate will enable.
You are at such height here at the gate, that as
you stand looking eastward, there is nothing to
bound your vision but your natural horizon. You
are above the whole scene; and looking over it, you
may be said to look down over it. You command
it all, to the extent of the power of the eye. Far
below you, some thousands of feet, is a wood-em bosomed dell, with an open farm every here and
there spotted along it, looking at this distance like
39 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
patches of wild meadow and glade in the midst of
the vast forest around.  Inmediately beyond rises
a bold and rugged mountain, whose craggy top is
indented like the battlements of a castle, and whose
sides sweep down, dark with firs and hemlocks, and
every variety of pines, to the edge of the deep valley. Looking to the righlt, the mountains are broken and irregular, as if they had been tossed and
torn to pieces by some mighty upheaving of the
earth, and had thus fallen scattered about in confused, giant masses: some elegant and majestic as
the "star'y-pointed pyramid;" some grand  and
massive as the "proud bulwark on the steep;" others of huge, misshapen bulk-the Calibans of the
wild; and others, again, so grotesque of form, that
they seem to have been moulded by the very genius
of Whim-the Merry-Andrews of the Alleganies:
and all yet beautiful and soft to the eye, with the
softening hues of summer- these summer hues producing the same effect here that time has wrought
upon the rugged feudal castle, as so beautifully described in the verse of Mason:
- "Time
Has moulded into beauty many a tower,
Which, when it frowned with all its battlements,
Was only terrible"
On the left the scene is in strong contrast with
the grand and grotesque mountains we have just
described. Here, along the steeps of the Allegany,
40 
THE COCKNEYS EXPLAINED.
you catch picturesque glimpses of the winding highway-and, again, you see it boldly emerging from
the woods at the base of the mountain, and sweeping on through the open vale, and by the banks of
the silvery stream, down past th)e emboweied house
and cultivated lands of Reese-on-and away,
until it turns off, and is lost in the mountains. This
little valley, which but this morning we traversed
in part, now stretches itself out so far before us that
it grows indistinct and confused to the sight-its
fields so diminished in size that they look like
garden-beds;  the winding stream that threads it
seeming but a waving line of silver. The picture
has all the delicacy of a scene in miniature, and
there is a witching summer-softness over it all as
of the beauty and the sheen of a voluptuous woman,
or (if you prefer it) of a ripe peach. Further over
in the mountains is a wider and more open valley,
that seems from here almost a plain, and so hazy
and indistinct are its outlines, that your imagination
exerts its fanciful power, and you see-dimlyvaguely-towers, and temples, and mighty domes,
revealing themselves before your eyes, as if some
lordly city was about to grow up upon the plain by
enchantment. Turning again, and looking straight
forward, eastwardly, whence we came, and lo!
what ideas of vastness crowd upon the mind; for it
is all one vast sea of mountains, as far as the eye
can behold-range beyond range ever appearing
41
lp 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
heaving like the blue waves of some immense sea
-wave following wave in endless succession; for
youre horizon being bounded everywhere by moutntains, to the imagination there is no limit, and all
beyond is wave after wave of the same giant sea.
Gazing upon this noble scene, the prior of St.
Philips grew excited-his eye dilated-his soul
was all ablaze; and no longer able to hold himself;
he stretched forth his right hand and gave tongue
as follows:
"Gentlemen, I see into it all now, and if our
invasion of the Alleganies effects nothing else I
shall go home satisfied. Our mountains have been
greatly slandered-most vilely traduced by the
cockneys; and beholding this mighty scene, I'm
lost in wonder that some man with a large enough
soul, hasn't long since put them right before the
world."
" That's right, stick it into them, Prior; give it to
'em, County, you're the man to do it."
" Put to route and everlasting shame the whole
insolent and conceited herd."
"Hash them, slash them,
All to pieces dash them!"
"Let them have it as Tom  Hyer gave it to Sillivan."
"Dress their jackets genteely, Prior."
"Dont spare either age, sex, or condition."
42 
THE COCKNEYS EXPLAINED.
"Begin:
"'Omrnnes conticuere intentique ora tenebant,
Sic "
"Sic who! He dont want any sicking, let him
go on."
Silence being restored, and the rage of the expedition against the cockneys a little mollified by the
steam it had let off, Mr. Philips plunged epic-wise
into the middle of things.
"If I were called upon, gentlemen, to say what
was the great especial characteristic of our American mountains, I would reply at once, their immensity-not the immensity of size, but of extentthat they fill the mind with the same order of
sublime emotion that the ocean does, with this
difference, that the sublimity, though alike in kind,
is higher in'degree."
"Good, good!"
"How clear he is!"
"The mountain sea is the actual sea enlarged to
giant proportions. Standing here as we do now,
and gazing out into the blue waves flowing in
toward us from the distant horizon, I want to know,
gentlemen, what sort of a ship would that be, to
which these waves would rise mast-high?"
" What sort indeed?"
"Yes, you may well ask what sort! not such, I
take it, as sailed of old out of Tarsus and Tyre, calling forth the deep wonder of Solomon; not snuch
43 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
as swept the seas under Nelson at Trafalgar or the
Nile; not such, even, as those that now sail under
the star-spangled banner- that heaven-symbolized
ensign-challenging the wonder of all mankind;
not even leviathan, gentlemen, now in dock at
Portsmouth-the Pennsylvania.  Noah's ark, when
it rode the highest wave of the deluge-the merest
cockle-shell as it must have seemed in those mighty
waters, would be a merer cockle-shell in these."
"Fine.  How figurative is his style!"
" Like Jeremy Taylor's!"
" Something of the massive grandeur of Bishop
Hooker's!"
"And the perfervidutm of Milton's, with a discriminating infusion of the swash-buckler."
"And yet, gentlemen," continued Mr. Philips,
knitting his brows, and concentrating his eyes to a
focus, as if the object of all his bile stood before
him, "and yet, though of such grandeur are these
mountains, filling the mind with such nobility of
thought, what means all this disparagement that is
sputtered forth against them by the whole herd of
modern travellers, abroad and at home, with some
few honorable exceptions, who talk such downright
arrant nonsense about them?"
"How effectually he puts a question!"
" What a fool-killer he would make!"
"The old Silenus riding an ass! Lambaste him
well, Guy, while you're on him!"
44: 
TIHE COCKNEYS EXPLAINED.
"It is the burden of all these cockneys, gentlemen, and particularly of the John Bull, our coIsiulgermain, that our mountains are poor concerns.
Why? Because (say these gentlemen fresh from the
land of Cockaigne and thereabouts) when you have
labored and toiled for half a day to get to the top
of the highest Ararat or Taurus you can find, you
can see nothing but endless mountains before you,
and always in the farthest distant some giant higher
still than that whereon, half-dead in climbing it,
you foolishly expected to behold both the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans."
"Howv he accumulates it upon them!"
"Piles the agony!"
"Wood up, County!"
"Throw in the bacon sides!"
"And not true this, even in fact, but miserably
untrue. Why, look around you here as you stand.
The refutation of the foolish nonsense is before your
eyes. What are all these valleys, great and small
-what all these dells and gorges, chasms, defiles,
passes — these streams and rivers, rivulets and rills.
Look at that drove of fatted beeves, winding yonder
over the Knobley -the long column seemingly in terminable. What have you to say to that lordly
city of the far mountain plain, with all its towers
and domes-its vast palaces looming up to the eye,
and looming larger as you concentrate your gaze;
visible only, it is true, to the imagination, acted
45 
46        THE BLACKWA'RER CHRONICLE.
upon through the deceived sense, but yet a nobler
city than was ever built by hands!"
"Hold on, Prior, let's hear that again!"
"Dont speak, Trip; he's about to touch on some thing profound."
"And if such seeming cities, gentlemen, natur ally arise to the eye here in the mountains —natur ally, because the result of natural causes, what
though in absolute fact there is no city there what if it is illusion-all in my eye, as the vulgar
say?  It is only the reasoning mind that tells you
this.  The imaginative mind tells you there is a
city: one part of your intellectual organization
says there is not, another part tells you there is, and
which do you believe? Most undoubted, as far as
the present picture is concerned, the one that tells
your sense that there before you stands the city.
And there, to all intents and purposes, it does stnd
apparent before you, in all its magnified glory,
such as was never built by human hands, such as
can only be built by human brains, and those of the
nobler order; a city up to the standard of the new
Jerusalem, if your imagination is of the order of
St. John's.
"Don't go in any deeper, Prior, or the subject
will swim you."
"Devil the bit, its good wading all about where
he is."
" All this repeated cant, therefore, about our 
THE OCOCKNEYS EXPLAINED.
American mountains is not true in point of fact.
But what if it were?-yes, gentlemen, what if it
were?  And this question brings me to the gist
of the matter. According to the very statement of
the cockneys, upon their own showing, the view
now before them, is one that fills the human mind
with ideas of the highest sublimity; for what, to the
man of the largest comprehension, can be more impressively vast than this same immensity of mountain ocean that everywhere presents itself to view,
with all its heaving, interminable, giant waves!"
"There you have knocked the swords out of the
hands of the puny whipsters!"
" Killed them dead!"
"Dead as Julius Csesar!"
" It's a slaughter of the innocents!"
" It reminds me of the setting down Ulysses gave
Thersites in the Grecian camp!
" It's great spouting!"
"A whale's!"
"Swamping the pigmies in a deluge of ocean
brine!"
"What a senator he would make! how they
would crowd the capitol when he let himself out!"
Ile's rather high-strung, I think, for the modern
democracy!"
" Not so, gentlemen, the very style and manner
of eloquence -translucent, bold, free, combining
imagination with reason -that has prevailed with
ws =, 411".
47 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
all who speak the English tongue, from the days
of Alfred the Great to the present time."
"Gentlemen of the expedition," resumed Mr.
Philips, wiping thle beads from his forehead, and
with a self-sufficient air that would have done for
the prince of Tyie, or Xerxes when he ordered the
sea to be chained, "I think we have sufficiently
expla7ned the cockneys."
" Explunctified'em!"
"All to smashes, Prior!"
"At all events, gentlemen, I've said my say I've spit my spite, and my soul is now tranquil.
With a serene exaltation I can again gaze over
these mountain billows.  The scene is indeed sublime! I hear "the mighty waters rolling evermore"
-a sound as of the pol/phloisboio t/kalasses is in
my ear. What a manifold ocean! Here on the
right is the classic Mediterranean:- yonder monstrous promontory in among those jagged mountains is Scylla; and wo unto the mariner, who,
eager to avoid its dangers, falls into the neighboring Charybdis's awful vortex! What a going round
and round and round would be his! and what a
swallowing up as he takes the suck — down - down
-derry down, to the roaring music of the i1naelstrom. Oh! gentlemen, but it would be grand
shipwreck over there. Here to the left, where the
shining valley shows itself, is the sunny Archliipelago and the Grecian isles; and that grand city
48 
THE COCKNEYS EXPLAINED.
looming up from the waters is Athens -or you
may have it old Troy-or the glittering city of
Constantine, by the Thracian Bosphorus. There
to the north are those'uncouth, boisterous seas,' to
whose mercy Francis Drake'let go' all that was
left of the invincible armada.  Here's the Horn,
and there's the cape'of storms'- where you see
the clouds gather. Yonder hazy point is Hatteras,
and that tall naked pine is the mast of some yankee
coaster, wrecked upon its fatal sands.  All before
me is the Atlantic; and down yonder, fast-founded
by the wide-watered shore, some fifty sea-leagues
hence, methinks I behold the lordly dome of our
capitol, its gorgeous ensign peacefully flapping its
folds over the land of the free and the home of the
brave! And yet the cockneys say these a'n't mountains!"
"God bless the star-spangled banner!"
"And d - d for ever the cockney or what not,
that would disparage, in any manner, the country
over which it waves."
" At another time, gentlemen," observed the Signor Andante, " I could desire to add something to
the glorification of our mountains, which the Prior
hasn't condescended to touch upon:-it is in regard
-to the sylvan majesty of their scenery, in which
they differ entirely from the European. You have
no idea how bare the mountains abroad appear to
our eyes, accustomed to these grand forests. In
3
49 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
connection with this part of the subject, I would
like to take the cockneys a turn or two, upon the
splendor of the foliage in October-the hues of all
dyes-particularly the scarlet
"'The leaves that with one scarlet gleam,
Cover a hundred leagues and seem
To set the hills on fire.'
"But  we  can't stay here all day."  And  the
signor, without a word more, and with all that
directness and determination of manner that characterized him, betook himself to his rheda- all the
rest following —the Prior a little whetted by the
exercise he took against the subjects of the king of
Cockaigne.
50 
WINSTON AND ITS CASTELLAii.
CHAPTER V.
WINSTON AND ITS CASTELLAN - MR. EDWARD TOWERS.
THE sun by this time is riding nearly midway in
the skies, and we hasten on to the summit of the
mountain, seven miles up from its base. We have
climbed "the mighty Hielvelyn;" and, what is more,
we have said our say in doing it, to the honor and
glory of the land, and the confbunding of its enemies, their aiders and abettors. Here you gaze over
the plateau of the wide Allegany ranges -  some
twenty miles across by the road; and far in the distance you behold the Backbone-the Taurus of the
belt-down whose rugged sides the waters flow
east and west into the far seas.
Some four or five miles on our way, more or less
descending, on the side of a long hill that slopes
down to Stony river, we stopped for the middle of
the day at a large stone inn, kept open to the world
by William Poole-Bill Poole seems to be his better-established designation hereabouts - from which
familiar and easy manner of indicating him and his,
we take it he is a good fellow, a bon ceamerado, in
his neighborhood.  Mr. Poole was not at home, but
51 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
he had left a big vicer oy over his dominions, -under
whose lazy sway some broiling and frying was accomplished, that stayed a little that 8acred rage
about which we spoke in the beginning of this
chronicle. The hostler also was absent; and finding no representative of that very important official,
we turned in and groomed our own horses; and it
was well done-which says something as to the
value of being able to take care of yourself in this
wide world. We took our coats off, rolled up our
sleeves, and "pitched in" to the work, according
to the formula prescribed in the stables of Colonel
Johnson, of Chesterfield-now dead and gone —
whose word was once law in all matters of hippology-hor8e-talk the unlearned do call it.
"That hardihood," observed Mr. Butcut, as he
twisted a fresh wisp of straw, "which scales mountains, penetrates the wilderness, or subjugates the
beasts of the chase, while at the same time it refuses to exert itself upon the needful well-being of
your horse, is blutlittle to be commended."
"Right, Doctor Johnson!"
"The great Cyrus," said Doctor Blandy, "did not
think it beneath him to exercise his care over the
elephants he took with him on his expeditions."
"In Egypt, Napoleon always took special care
of the asses when he went into battle," said Triptolemus.
"k ing Richard II., Shakspeare tells us, fed roan
52 
WINSTON AND ITS CASTEI,LAN.
Barbary with his own hands," put in the Prior, taking a long breath.
"If I am not mistaken," said the artist, "I have
read it in the Iliad that Anidromache herself fed
Hector's horses- "
"To be sure she did!" said Trip, "and with grain
which she steeped in wine."
"What is more directly to the point?" observed
Blandy. " Let me remind you, gentlemen, of the
personal care bestowed by Dugald Dalgetty upon
Gustavus."
"Enough," said Mr. Butcut.  " That man is little
to be envied who does not feel himself all in a glow
at having accomplished the generous labor of rubbing down his own horse. To my mind, it is an
evidence of a princely disposition. Nothing, indeed,
can be more honorable-when you can get nobody
else to do it for you-but if I rub my'Gustavus'
again, if he never gets a rubbing, I hope I may
never reach Winston!"-And Peter threw down
his wisp, and washed himself in the horse-bucket,
after the manner of a hostler.
With such like stable-talk- of which the above
is but a small sample-we finished the rites, and
left our Gustavuses to the enjoyment of their oats.
In due course of time we once more encountered
the road; and after a drive of some twelve miles,
over the undulating tops of this wide belt of imoutntains, down their gorges, through the passes, by farms
53 
54        THE BLAOKWATER CHRONICLE.
lately cleared and green with wild timothy, blue grass, and white clover-the natural growth of these
fine grazing regions-we at length crossed the Potomac, and, winding up a long, fair sweep of hill,
slackened rein before the gates of Winston.
It was somewhere about five o'clock when we
won the stone, having driven some forty-three miles
since we left the pleasant town of Romney in the
early morning: forty-three miles of such delightful
travel as can hardly be found elsewhere within our
borders.
We hailed our resting-place with divers and manifold exclamations of surprise and delight, which
brought the alert Towers to the hostel-gates, in a
very broad-brimmed straw hat, stuck all over with
fishing hooks and lines. The castle of Winston
stands, like the castle of Richmond, "fair on the
hill;" and although it did not greet our eyes with
the feudal grandeur of Norham-with warders on
the turrets, donjon-keep, loophole grates where captives weep, and the banner of St. George flapping
idly in the breeze, as that famous hold met the gaze
of Marmion and his train as they came " pricking
o'er the hill," yet it looked cheerful and pleasant
enough —had an air of something even like elegance
as the western sun shed its splendor upon it. The
porches with which it was arrayed imparted a look
as of something "bedecked, ornate, and gay," like
Delilah, Samson's wife, "this way sailing."  Above 
WINSTON AND ITS CASTFELLAN. 
all, it filled the mind perforce with comfortable
thoughts of the mountain-breeze, as it spread itself
out on the brow of a commanding hill-a grand
hill, that stretches down for half a mile in bold,
lawn-like sweeps, to the Potomac: the river here
floweing along in all wild beauty, some twelve or
fifteen miles below where it emerges, a wimpling
rill, from the slopes of the Backbone.
The castellan or governor of Winston, Edward
Towers, Esq., met us at the portals, with evident
gladness in his heart. Right away, he called for his
right-hand man Andrew, and proclaimed loud and
quick his edicts in regard to horses, carriages, luggage, everything; every here and there something
escaping his tongue, imprecatory of his or Andrew's
eyes, or other parts of their bodies, such as their
lights or livers, and even their diviner parts: his
movements all the while in just keeping with his
utterance, being wiry and terrier-like, up and down
instead of longwise-energetic, sudden-just such
action as hooks a trout without fail, and accounts
for the governor of Winston's great reputation in
these parts as a fisherman.
"Walk in, gentlemen," said Mr. Towers; "walk
in, walk in. Aha! well, indeed, you are here at
last! Looked for you all day yesterday. Devil
take me! Where did you come from to-day, gentlemen?"
"From Romney."
55 
56        THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
""By this time!  Where did you dine-not at
Reese's?  Perhaps you had something with you?"
"We stopped back here some twelve miles, at a
large stone house on the side of a hill."
"At Poole's —Bill Poole's. He went up above
here to-day, fishing, d   n his eyes!"
" iow are the trout, Towers?"
"There's nothing else in the water!  I just took
Andrew yesterday evening, and went up to the falls
of the Potomac-slept out all night on the hemlock-and by breakfast-time this morning got home
with over two hundred! How many, Andrew?"
"You're right."
"Yes, two or three hundred.  Devil take me, if I
couldn't have caught a three-bushel bag full as easy
as not!"
This information was somewhat exciting, and gave
rise to a desire, on the part of the more impressible
members of the invasion, to commence demonstrations against the enemy forthwith. With this view,
Doctor Blandy inquired of Towers the distance to
the falls.
"About eight miles," answered the castellan qui
etly.
"And how is the road?"
"The road -road, did you say! The middle of
the river is the best road I know."'
"You can't ride to them, then?"
" There is a sort of a way over the hills, if you 
WINSTON AND ITS OASTELLAN.
could find it. But that stops at the laurel, just before you come to Laurel run."
"What's the laurel?" asked Triptolemus, opening his eyes.
"You'11ll learn enough about it, Mr. Todd, before
you leave here-more than you'll care about knowing, I reckon," observed Mr. Towers, with a smile
of superiority at Murad's ignorance of the laurel.
"The laurel, Mr. Todd, is the big laurel of these regions, that borders all the streams; and it's about
as much as a man can do to get through it, let alone
a horse."
"Ugh-nuh!" replied Trip - which was a queer
sort of laughing chuckle that characterized that gentleman upon all occasions.
It was clear that the falls of the Potomac were
out of the question that evening; and notwithstanding all manner of trout were leaping up and down
them in our mind's eye, we desisted for the present
from any further investigations as to the way by
which they were to be reached.
"But, Towers," said Mr. Botecote, authoritatively,
" there must certainly be some place near here where
we could have some pretty fair sport for an hour
or so.  I would like to add a few fish to your supper."
At this announcement, Mr. Towers looked a little
astonished, and replied, confusedly- for Peter's
manner was something lofty and imposing                        3*
57 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"Oh yes, certainly, Mr.      I really didn't hear
your name -"
"Botecote," said Peter.
"Certainly, Mr. Botecote-I didn't think of that;
I really thought now a couple of hundred might do
you!"
" You started with two hundred, raised immediately to three hundred - may have four hundred
by this time-and with all, Mr. Towers, I may possibly go to bed only tantalized with them."
"If there is one in the house this minute, there's
four hundred, big and little!  May the     "
"Be it so, then, Mr. Towers, and don't swear.
I'll lay me down here on this settle, and methinks
I'll take a nap."
"To-morrow, then, we'll begin the attack."
"Bright and early."
"When the hunter's horn is first heard on the
golden hills."
" And I'll go with you," said Mr. Towers, " and
show you the ground. We'll make a day of it
fish up to the falls and back. Those that don't want
to go so far, can stay below here at some pools in
the river. There's one pool that I call Ashmun's
pool, after Mr. Ashmun of Massachusetts. May be
some of you know him. Devil take my lights now,
if he didn't pull out of that pool a basketful! One
of them weighed a pound and a half; if it didn't,
youi may drown me!"
58 
WINSTON AND ITS CASTELLAN.
"Ugh - uh!" exclaimed Triptolemus.    f e
"No doubt about it," resumed Towers.  You see
he fished with the fly, which is a sort of curiosity
to our fish, and rather takes'ern in for a little while.
But give me the worm, after all."
"You fish with the worm, then, Mr. Towers?"
"Yes- anything I can lay my hands on."
"Did you ever try the bug?"
"The bug? what's the bug?"
"The Prior there has one.  You ought to see it!
I venture to say that every large trout in the stream
will make at it."
"What's it like?" asked Towers.
"Here's a likeness of it," replied the artist, taking out his pencil, and drawing a rather exaggerated caricature of it.
"Devil take me," exclaimed Mr. Towers, "if it
won't scare the biggest trout that ever swam the
Potomac! That thing! Why, what sort of a bug
do you call it?"
"It's called the trout hum-bug," said Peter.
"Well, gentlemen, I had thought that may be I
might some time or other try the fly, and see what
I could do with it; but if ever you get me to attempt that thing, may the -     But there's no use
talking about it. Come along, Andrew, and get
out some oats for the horses. The best oats you
ever saw, gentlemen.  Hustle, Andrew! -hustle
along!"
59 
THE BLAOKWATER CHRONICLE.
And so away hurried the castellan, with Andrew
after him- Towers going off with a vehement, perpendicular movement, like one of the old grasshopper engines on the railroad, when under a great
press of steam.
" I think the Prior's bug was too much for our
host," observed the artist.
" He's a worm-fisher!" said Doctor Blandy disdainfully. " If I were you, Prior, when I got my
bug out to-morrow, I wouldn't let him come on the
same side of the river with me."
" What a remarkably high mover he is!" said
Trip.
"If the governor of Winston's performance comes
anywhere near the promise of his speech and movement, we shall fare well, both man and horse." And
this fair promise was not broken to the sense- it
was fairly kept. The oats were as fine as ever grew
-heavy, polished, hard, plump, and golden; and
Andrew was only too liberal in dispensing them to
each whynnying and pawing horse. As for ourselves, Gil Blas and Scipio ate no such supper in
their retreat at Lirias.  Fifty fine trout, all beautifully erubrowned, and like Ate6, hot from-the flames
below, eame and went, and came and went again;
and so lightly did they sit upon our bosom's lord,
that it seemed all illusion-the insubstantial and
pageant supper of a dream-to divest the mind of
which fallacy, nothing but the appropriate disposi
60 
WINSTON AND ITS CASTELLAN.
tion of a series of venison-steaks could suffice. After some protracted effort, however, in this way, the
illusion was finally driven out from the mind, and we
were happy in the content of the succeeding hoars
-hours spent in dreamy silence, or in easy conversation upon subjects appertaining to the gentle philosophy of Epicurus. And so, without a disturbing
thought, indolently reclining around, we whiled the
time away.
Thus passing the first hours of the night, at length
we went to bed; and while yet conscious of bliss,
sleep mingled itself stealthily in with the visions of
the mountains and the rivers that were passing in
ever-changing procession over the brain: each vision growing more indistinct as the long procession
swept on-until at length, with the splash of some
leaping trout in your ear, and his bright colors
gleaming in your eye, sound and sight were gone.
Such is the sleep of those who travel high mountain-regions, or sail the salt seas in temperate climes.
Such was at first the sleep of this expedition, light
as the early mist on the river. But, by-and-by, its
folds descended more heavily upon us-heavy as a
cloud; and then it became musical-ravishing the
ear of night with a varied harmony, a concord in
discord of flutes, and soft recorders, and horns the loud bassoon, with every now and then a turn
of the hurdy-gurdy, and sometimes the drone of the
bagpipe. Rossini is said to have caught the idea
6
61 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
of the song of the barber, in his great opera, from
the braying of an ass. Had he heard this sleep, a
far more wonderful strain would have streamed
forth beneath the fingers of the immortal composer!
No Lilliputian slumber shall this chronicle record
it, if I can help it-but rather that such as swelled
grandly forth upon the night air, nightly, throughout the Brobdignag realms!
62 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
(HIIAPTER VI.
THE BLAOKWATER INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
THE head-fountain of the Potomac rises high on
the eastern side of the dividing Allegany ridge, not
far below the cone of the mountain, and near the
boundary-stone planted by Lord Fairfax to mark
the farthest limit of that princely territory-embracing all the country lying between the waters of the
Potomac and Rappahannock rivers - which he inherited as a grant from the British crown. The Potomac
is formed, in its very beginnings, by the union of several smaller springs with this head-spring, as they
descend the steeps of the mountain. The little rivulTet, pursuing its course along the base of the Backbone, is gradually augmented by the springs that
flow down in every direction through the ravines
around, until it attains a breadth of some thirty feet
at the small falls, about five miles below its source.
Below the falls there are some eight or ten streams
making into it: the Big Laurel, Little Laurel, Sand
run, and Shields's run, on the Maryland side; the
Horseshoe, Buffalo run, the Dog's Hind-Leg, and
some others, on the Virginia shore. This accession
63 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
of little streams swells it into quite a sizeable mount ain-river by the time it reaches opposite to Winston.
It is here some sixty feet wide-a clear, firesh, wild
stream, reflecting every pebble that lies in its bed
-shaded by stately forests, and fringed with vines
and flowers. Of course, it is filled with trout; and
although it is a good deal fished by those who frequent here in the summer, yet it still continues to
yield up its treasure in sufficient abundance for the
constant supply of the table at Winston.
For two days we mnade unceasing war throughout
this Potomac region, as far up as the falls. The
first day we broughit in over two hundred fislh, some
of them of fine size. The second day we took more,
having invaded some of the larger tributary streams
mentioned above. So it will be seen we had trout
in abundance.
When the third day came round, there was a general desire expressed, when we assembled at the
breakfast-table, to foray in some new country.  We
had invaded the Potomac in all reason —having in
these two days pretty well gone over the ground
hereabouts. The mind of desultory man is still as
studious of change, and pleased with novelty, under
our republican order of things, as it has been heretofore under the older polities of the world. Indeed,
it is a characteristic of our American Saxon, exceeding that of all others of the Saxon, or any other combination.... But where to go?-that is the ques
64 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
tion. Mexico has been taken-and where shall we
find a Cuba? Some proposed an incursion into the
Glades, over about Snow creek, said to be unfrequented ground: one was for the Evergreen-glades,
another for the Oak-glades; some for the lower Potomac-but there were rattlesnakes down the river,
it was said, and that was a damper. In this variety
of opinion, the indolent policy prevailed: and it
was determined to pass the day sub tegmine - rambling over the hills, and in the enjoyment of an
easy, lounging time of it about the porches of the
inn.
Sitting on the long porch that fronts the river,
enjoying the cool breeze that seems always to fan
these hill-tops, some mention, among our other talk,
happened to be made of "THE CANAAN," or wilderness-country, over on the head-waters of the Cheat.
It so happened that one of our party had been told,
many years ago, that this land of Canaan was as
perfect a wilderness as our continent contained, although it was not many miles away from the Glades
on one side, and the long settled parts of Hardy and
Randolph counties on the other; a country where
the wild beasts of the forest yet roamed as unmolested as they did when the Indians held possession
of our borders; a howling wilderness of some twenty or thirty miles' compass, begirt on all sides by
civilization, yet unexplored.  This statement was
brought to mind by the casual mention of the coun
65 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
try as we sat talking upon the porch; and it led to
much inquiry in regard to the wilderness. Our
landlord, as soon as the subject was broached, entered largely into it, and dilated upon the wonders
of the Canaan in very glowing terms. It was only
a few years ago, he told us, that elk had been killed
upon its boundaries, not far from the settlements,
at a place called the Elk-lick. Hle said there were
deer in great herds-so wild, that they were almost
tame. " And, gentlemen," he continued, with great
animation, " if you can only reach the falls of the
Blackwater, you can take more trout in an hour
than you ever took before in all your lives."
"Ugh-nuh!" exclaimed Triptolemnus, with his
usual chuckle.
" You don't tell me so!" said Peter, with open
eyes and mouth.
" If yoll say so," resumed Mr. Towers, "we'll go
into the countiy-Andrew can take care of the
house-and we'll have such fishing as was never
heard of. But understand now, gentlemen, you've
got to do a little of the roughest and hardest sort
of walking and climbing. Then there's the laurel
you must go through. And you mustn't mind sleeping on hemlock, and in the rain too-it's always
raining over on the Bone."
This was only applying additional stimulus to the
desire that had already taken possession of us, and
at all risks we determined to go on the morrow, pro
66 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
vided we could secure the aid of two well-known
hunters of this region to lead us on our way. Accordiigly, we despatched a messenger to the house
of Joe Powell, who lived on the borders of the Winston property, with a request that he would get John
Conway, another hunter, living some miles farther
off, and come down in the evening to see us. These
men came over during the day, and it was all arranged before they left us, that we would set off in
the morning early for the Blackwater.
Everything being put in train for the expedition,
we gathered together on the long porch toward
nightfall, and passed the time in much further discourse upon the Canaan-comnrfenting variously
on the information we had gathered from Powell
and Conway, who had been out as far as the smaller
falls of the Blackwater, hunting deer in the winterseason, but had never been at the great falls of the
stream-the existence of which they only inferred
from the roar of water that filled the forest, when
they were out there.
In order that the reader may the better enter into
the spirit of our wilderness adventure, we will take
the liberty of introducing him more familiarly to
our party.
In a large arm-chair, spread out to the extent of
his bulk, with his feet resting upon a bench, and
leaning back against the railing of the porch, sat a
gentleman  stout, ample, and muscular-with a
67 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
handsome face, rosy with bloom, and a pleasant
twinkle of the eye, that told of the mirthful character of his mind. Just now, though, his countenance
was grave and thoughtful. Rattlesnakes seemed to
have taken entire possession of him, ever since we
had determined upon our march into the wilderness; and presently he put the following question
to Mr. Towers, with great emphasis:  " Do you think, Mr. Towers, that my big fishingboots-that very big pair, with the red tops, hatging up against the wall-will save me against the
bite of a rattler?"
" Oh, bless you, Mr. Butcut, there are none in
these hills.  If there were, I can assure you, sirmay I be hang-danged if I would live here a single
day-not even to own Winston! A rattlesnake,
sir, has never been seen higher up this way than
some two miles below yonder, at. the foot of that
mountain-and then only one-and he had to clear
out. It don't suit'em up here. Seven miles off
yonder, on the side of that mountain, there is a den
of them - where there are a plenty - so thick, you
can smell'em. But they stay down in that region,
and never come up this way."
"That's what Powell says; for I took him one
side, and asked him particularly about them. I
think I would go into a fit if I should happen to
tread on one of the blasted reptiles!"
" Make yourself easy about them.  I pledge you
68 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
my honest word, there a'n't any up here.  The country's too cool, or something or other, for them. The
devil take me-but I believe if I was to see one of
them, I would jump clean out of my skin!  I'm
monstrously afraid of'em-and I confess it. I don't
mind a wild-cat-he'll run from you: nor a bear,
unless it's a she-bear, with cubs —and then look
out, I tell you! But rattlesnakes and copper-heads
my nerves, somehow, won't stand.  If I might take
the liberty —you seem to have a little dislike to
them yourself."
"If you would put on a pair of thick cloth pantaloons, and draw on a big pair of boots outsidesuch as mine yonder, Towers-I should suppose
you would be safe from a bite."
"I should hate to trust them any way; rather not
be struck at by them at all. Why, they have fangs
an inch long!" 
"What would you do, if one was to bite you?"
" Just lie down and die -give it up at once."
"Not so," broke in the artist; "no necessity for
dying at all. Take out your knife, and cut out the
flesh round where you're struck-suck the wound
-then burn some gunpowder into it-and you're
safe enough."
"Drink a pint or so of raw whiskey or brandy
right off," observed the doctor, "and there's no
danger."
"Not so much from the snake, may be."
69 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"If I am not mistaken, I read an account, a year
or so ago, of an experiment made before the Fiench
physicians, by which it was ascertained that a flask
of olive-oil was a certain cure of the bite. Two
country-people came in, received the bite of a viper,
swallowed a flask of oil each, and experienced no
other harm than a little drowsiness for a few days."
"Swallow a good deal of sweet milk," said a countryman sitting by.  "I've known that to cure a
man."
''EauL-de-luce," replied the doctor, "rubbed on
outwardly, and taken internally to prevent coagulation of the blood, would be good."
"Well, now," said the countryman who spoke
before, "for my part, I'm more afraid of a copperhead than I am of a rattlesnake; for he never gives
you any warning.  He's a nightsnake, too-he'll
bite at night, and the other won't."
'"Hiow much olive-oil have you in the house?"
inquired Peter.
"I don't believe there's any," replied Towers;
"but I've got a plenty of castor-oil," if that would
do."
" Have you any fish-oil?" asked Triptoleni us.
" I think we hlad better drive a cow along," said
Andante.
"What would you milk her in?"
"In the frying-pan."
"I am free to say, gentlemen," observed Mil. But
70 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
cut, "that I have more confidence in the brandy
than anything else; and, as that is more at hand,
we'll each take a flask with us, in case of accidents."
This proposition was readily assented to-and
with it the subject of the rattlesnakes was about to
be dismissed; but in the meantime the artist had
taken out his pencil, and drawn a caricature of Butcut pursued by a rattler-his hair on end-eyes
I- r. vd  A     d    o - Ir.
wide-nostril distended-fishing-rod, with a big
trout on the end of it, dropped-and the rattler,
with about twenty rattles on his tail, and his crest
raised ready to strike, in hot pursuit! The caricature was well enough. The castellan was both astonished and delighted. "Isn't it like him?" he
exclaimed, and broke out into what an old-country
71 
THE BLACKWATEIR CHRONICLE.
man of my acquaintance used to call an imbrurpt
cluig, and took the drawing off to show it to his
wife. Returning, lhe looked upon the Signor with
more of deference than he had been disposed to
show him before. Hiis countenance had something
of mingled wonder and delight as he fixed his eyes
on him-some such expression as a man of the middle ages might be supposed to wear on his face as
he gazed upon some imposing magician or sorcerer
that had just performed a wonderful feat of art.
The rattlesnake terror had now altogether vanished.  The caricature had killed it effectually; and
the conversation took another turn.
"Towers, what wild animals are there over in the
wilderness?"
"Plenty of them-bears, wolves, panthers, deer
in crowds-some few elk, I reckon and otters,
and badgers-all the animals that ever were there."
"Do they ever attack you?"
" Not unless they are particularly hungry, which
can't be at this time of the year. Your fire at night
will keep them away from you, any how; though I
have heard it said the panther has been known to
walk between a party sleeping and the fire at their
feet."
"That, I suspect, was a dream of some one who
had gone to sleep with the wild beasts running in
his brains."
"You have nothing to fear from the animals.
72 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
The only thing you have to fear is losing yourselves. But Powell and Conway are good woodsmen; and, besides, they have been partly in the
country. There is a story about, which I've heard
ever since I've been living up here, that a good
many years ago a stranger went into the Canaan,
and was never heard of afterward. Years after,
the skeleton of a man was found by some of the
hunters that had ventured furthest into the country."
"That's very pleasant information for us, Mr.
Towers. Do you think there is any chance of our
leaving our bones out there?"
"Every man runs his chance."
"The devil he does!  Why, this Canaan is not
altogether more than some twenty or thirty miles
of country in length, and, I suppose, not wider.
Hlow could a man well get lost in that compass?"
" Oh, very easily. Why, in those mountains a
man could walk about for a week, from sunrise till
sunset, particularly if he got into a big laurel-brake,
and never at any time be five miles from where he
started, unless he blazed his way."
Mr. Botecote mused somewhat seriously for a
while upon this information, but finally came to the
conclusion that the lost man and the skeleton was
a fable, and that it was nonsense to talk about his
being   lost in any five miles of country.   This
seemed to be the conclusion of the rest of us.
There is some such legend always told by the bor
4
73 
74        THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
derers upon every wild country.  But, again, such
things are rather probable. Men have been lost
before in countries far less wild than the Canaan
turned out to be. However, we entertained no
apprehensions of encountering anything worse than
some endurable fatigue and hardship; and the conversation passed off into general pleasantry and
merriment, in which the castellan of Winston came
in for a pretty good share of rather free raillery,
aimed at those more prominent peculiarities, which
the reader will by this time recognise as belonging
to him.
Murad the Unlucky, who had not said a word for
an hour, but sat with his lame appurtenance thrown
over the back of a chair, apparently drinking in the
conversation like mothers' milk, now broke speech
to the following effect:  "Well, Mr. Powers, I've just been thinking what
a mighty talker you are; you talk about like a
horse I have at home runs. He beats everything
in the whole country -but you can't rely on him;
he won't keep the track."
" Why, you don't think so, indeed! Devil take
my lights, I thought I was slow!"
"Don't you think you stretch it a little, Conners?" said Murad, expressing  himself a little
plainer.
"Every word true, Mr. Todd; blast my eyes!
and more too; I haven't told you anything." 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
"What! all that about the rattlesnakes, and the
bears, and the panthers, and elk, and such crowds
of deer, and especially that about finding the bones
of the lost man!  Ugh! uh!"  Here Murad mused
a moment, and went on. "Towels, are you any
relation to the Conners down our way?"
It must be observed that Murad, among his other
unlucky traits, had an unlucky way of confounding
the names of all persons he encountered -a vice
of his intellectual composition that nothing could
eradicate; and so upon this occasion, Towers's name
was mixed up in his mind with Powell's and Conway's- the two hunters- so inextricably, that he
had none of them straight.
"To the Conners, did you say, Mr. Todd?  The
Conners! Devil take me, if I ever heard of any
such people!" 
"Why, as you are of the same name, I thought
you might be some kin." 
"May the devil! - blamenation!-if ever I saw
-Conners-my name isn't Conners!
"There you are, Trip- at it again," said Peter,
who seemed to take Muirad under his especial supervision.   "I'11 swear,  gentlemen,  he  hasn't
called any single man, woman, child, or horse anything by a right name, since we left home.
Why, Triptolemus, Towers's name isn't Towels,'or
Powels, or Conners, or anything of the sort. It's
75 
76        THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
Towers, Towers, Towers -T-o-w, Tow- e-r-s, ers
- Towers!"
"Well, what's the odds?" said Murad.  "It don't
make any such mighty difference. But you're
some kin, a'n't you, Powels?"
"Well, I dare say I am, if I only knew distinctly
which of my relations you mean. But what makes
you think so?"
"Why, you talk so fast, and so much, that you
remind me of one Connel, a lawyer down our way
-a great pleader -who can out-talk any man I
ever heard, until I had the pleasure of making your
acquaintance; has a great gift of what they call
the gab. You're a Virginian anyhow, a'n't you,
Towels?"
"I don't know what he is now, but his ancestors
came out of Babbleon," said the artist.
"Suffered under the old Babbleonish captivity,"
chimed in Galen.
"From which the race haven't yet been entirely
redeemed," put in the Master.
"Well, that's pretty well; but, may the devil
take me, if I don't think some of Mr. Todd's ancestors must have come out of the tower of Babel!"
"Right," said  Peter -" right, governor.  It's
the only way of accounting for his confusion of
names. And by the way, Trip, if you would bear
the tower of Babel in mind, it might help you to
get Towers's name right." 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
"It wont do," said the artist. His mind is essen
tially a transposing one. Hle'd have it the bowel
of Table!"
"I give it up, then," said Peter, and he threw
himself back in his arm-chair, with an air of resignation.
"Well, but, gentlemen," said the doctor, in his
very pleasant, gentlenmanly manner- (Galen was
very deliberate when about anything like a witticism, and having studied one out to suit himself,
some time back, he was determined that it should
not be lost, notwithstanding the conversation that
made it appropriate had gotten away from him)"Well, but, gentlemen," said he blandly, and with
a certain tickling sensation of pleasure upon his
countenance, "this is letting Mr. Towers escape us.
When we were running him about Babbleon just
now, and fixing upon him a Babbleonish extraction,
it occurred to me there must have been also some
of the old Greek blood in him."
" How do you make that out, doctor?" said
Towers, smiling.
"Why, by tracing your descent, Towers, in part,
from the very famous old lawgiver of Sparta, Lycurgus."
"How is that?  Who was this Lycurgus?" said
the castellan, evidently very much flattered at the
idea of being descended from any man with a name
that he didn't understand.
77 
78        THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"He was an old Greek, Towers -a Lacedemonian," said the Prior, taking up the doctor's idea"an old fellow named Curgus, one of the Curguses
of Sparta — a very remarkable family of people.
But in the course of his life this old gentleman had
told so many stories, about one thing or another,
that by way of distinguishing him from the other
Curguses, the people of his parts used generally to
call him Curgus, the story-teller or romancer. The
length of this designation, however, being contrary
to the genius of the Spartans, who were a people
of few words; they shortened it by calling him
Lie-Curgus, which after a while came to be his received name."
"There were a great many other distinguished
Greeks who acquired their names in the same way,"
observed the artist, "there are the Liesanders."
"And  Lysemachus   a condensation you  perceive, of Lies he makes us."
"The Greek genius is characterized, from the
earliest ages, by an aptitude for invention."
" What monstrous fabrications some of those are
which Homer relates!"
" Don't talk about them," said Triptolemus, "my
back stings me every time I think of them. The
whippings that I've had on account of them, are
really horrible to think of."
" What were you whipped for, Mr Todd?"
" Ignorance of Homer, Mr. Towels;  undoubted 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
ignorance, sir- clear-clear as day-not the least
mistake  about  it.  But  my  ignorance  of that
difficult language, Mr. Connel was owing to my
aversion to stories.   Had Homer told the truth
about the siege of Troy, I should have mastered
him. You see, Towels, my feelings somehow or
other were born on the Trojan side; and as soon as
I began Homer I knew it was all a Greek lie: you
may say, therefore, that I fell at Homer. But don't
distress yourself at this little passage in my biography; I can assure you I haven't the same strong
feelings in regard to your interesting account of the
Canaan, although I must say I don't exactly believe
all you tell us."
"May the devil roast my lights and livers, gentlemen, if I don't begin to believe you really think
I have been stretching it a little about the Blackwater. Now do you know I haven't told you half
I could tell you. The man's bones were found out
there- I saw'em myself- and for the deer, they
are just in thousands; and as for bears, why one of
'em had Andrew by the throat-I mean, devil take
my lights —up a tree down here for an hour, one
day, not two miles from this house-yes, on Winston-and he shot him too-didn't you Andrew?
And if you find a rattlesnake out there, wiy, I'll
just give you leave to eat me, lights and all. As
for the elk, I'll bring you a man, living not far from
here, who will swear to you that he saw one him
79 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
self, that was shot, not more than three years ago.
Now I'll tell you what, gentlemen, I'll take an even
bet with any of you, that you get lost notwithstanding you've got Powell and Conway with you-two
as good woodmen as ever went into the woods."
"I don't care if we do," said the artist, "I'll fish
in the Blackwater in spite of my bones."
"If all the wild beasts of the wilderness howl
around my path, I'll stand by the Signor's bones,"
said the Prior.
"If I could only feel certain about the rattlesnakes," said Peter, "it would take off the only
weight on my mind. But between my boots and
the brandy, I will defy them."
"The idea of driving a cow in for the milk cure is
abandoned, I suppose."
"Put up a plenty of provisions, Towers.  I can
stand anything better than starvation."
"Yes, gentlemen, and if you don't come back on
the day you say, I'll get up a party and go in after
you."
"Right-right; but I thought you were to go
along, Mr. Powway."
"There you are again, Trip, its intolerable absolutely ridiculous. Will you never learn to call
him Towers! You have no idea how it disturbs
the flow of thie conversation."
"I think, gentlemen," said Galen, delicately sug gesting it, "that if Triptolemus would commit some
so 
THE INVASION DETERMINED UPON.
verses to memory that had the word towers in
them, he might possibly control this bias he labors
under."
"A good idea-try it, Trip."
"Ugh-uh!" said Murad, with his peculiar ejaculation. "There you're too much for me again, I
don't think I ever knew any in my life."
"Well, then, gentlemen, we'll give him some."
"Begin-some one."
"I will, willingly," said Peter.
"'Day sat on Norham's castled towers,"'
"Day didn't," said the artist, "it set on Norham's
'castled steep'- that won't do. Try it again."
"I have a glimmering of a line that ends with
hostile towers-but I can't make it out exactly."
"The gentle Surrey," said Galen, and then stopped short.
"What of Surrey?"
"I thought it was something about towers-but
it isn't-it's' loved his lyre.'"
"That's it-that will do," said Trip, "that will
remind me of him-if you can find nothing better."
"There's a verse, gentlemen," said the Prior,
"that has something about towers bedight-but I
can't come at it.  It ends with temples and towers
bedgLght.  Do any of you remember it?"
"Towers bedight!-Towers be  d    d!-Lets
go to suppers" said the artist. And to supper we
4*
81  
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
went-Towers bedight or Towers be-what you
please, leading the way, and altogether delighted
at the prominent figure he cut in the evening's
conversation.
The supper had a subduing effect upon the vivacity of our spirits; and so, with a due regard to the
Blackwater invasion on the morrow, we retired
early to bed. The bright clear moon looked in auspicious through the curtains of our windows-and
to the gentle lullaby of the Allegany night-breeze
we fell fast asleep.
82 
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC.
CHAPTER VII.
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC - AND A SOMEWHAT PAR        TICULAR DESCRIPTION OF THE ARRAY.
IT was somewhere about four o'clock next morning when we began to give out in sleeping; and so,
lightly and airily, with gentle breathings, whisperingly, we now soon finished off the last delicate
touches and roundings of our dreams about bears,
and panthers, and rattlesnakes, and lost babes in
the woods (meaning thereby ourselves), &c., &c.,
just as the early cock uplifted his clear clarion,
and roused his dame Pertelotte and all the attendant
damsels of the roost from their slumbers.
How finely our old first poet-he who
"left half told
The story of Cambuscan bold,"
-famous Chaucer-head of the English poet peerage-has pictured the gallant chanticleer:
"His comb was redder than the fine corall,
Embattled as it were a castel wall;
His bill was black, and as the jet it shone,
Like azure were his legges and his tone,
His nails were whiter than the lily flower,
And like the burned gold was his colour."
83 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
And how, with the soul of eloquence and poetry
he makes him discourse -hear again:
"He knew by kind, and by none other ]ore,
That it was prime, and crew with blisful steven,
The soune, he said, is clomben up on heven,
Twenty degrees and on, and more ywis;
Madam Pertelotte, my worlde's bulis,
Herkeneth the blisful birddes how they sing,
And see the fresh flowers how they spring;
Ful is mine harte of revel and solas."
And again; what a lordly cozener is our chanticleer-what handsome flattery of his dame-and
with what pleasant humor he trifles with the sex.
"But let us speak of mirthe, and stinte all this,
Of o thing God has sent me~large grace,
For when I see the beauty of your face,
Ye ben so scarlet red about your eyen,
It maketh all my drede for to dien:
For all so sicker as, in principio
Mulier est hominis in confusio,
(Madam, the sentence of this Latin is,
Woman is man's joy and man's blis.)"
And then how like a prince - royal in his port,
and gallant is he-very much after the model of
Henry IV. of France, when in the midst of his
dames.
"He loketh as it were a grim leoun,
And on his toos hlie rometh up and down:
Him deigned not to set his feet to ground:
He chukketh when he hath a corn yfound,
And to him rennen then his wives alle."
84 
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC.
The reader is now aware, that some time since,
the early cock had proclaimed the morning. In
the beautiful verse of Chatterton
"The feathered songster chanticleer,
Had wound his bugle-horn,
And told the early mountaineer
The coming of the morn."
It is now broad day, and the ruddy streaks are
beginning to glimmer in the east.  Up rise we, then,
one and all, and shout aloud, "For the Blackwater!"
The doors and windows are thrown wide open, and
the mountain atmosphere-three thousand feet here
above the sea-is all about us; and if you have
never tried it, O unblessed lowlander! you can have
no idea of its extremely animating powers: there
are few things more stirring to both body and soul.
It compels to many extravagances of both speech
and action. Especially it makes you sing, whether
you can or not: and so it was that, chanting songs
of the morning, we made our orisons to the god of day,
Phcebus Apollo, now emerging in all-unutterable
glory through the golden portals of the east:  "Thou splendid luminary! honored, in some form
or other, by all the nations of old; proclaimed prince
of the lights of heaven throughout all the realms of
Christendom; worshipped by the barbarian, wonder
of the savage; saluted in thy rising with the clash
of cymbals and gongs, and the flourish of trumpets
and horns, the roll of drums, and the roar of morn
85 
86        THE BLACEWATER CHRONICLE.
ing guns; man everywhere doing thee homagein the old East, prostrate with slavish adoration;
here in the new West, standing erect (as I do now),
and with dilated chest, pouring out his soul in
hymns of praise, as befits his free-born nature!Great God-send of all mankind! particularly of all
poets and orators; filling the world with the grandest of the grandeurs of simile, and trope, and metaphor; also at the same time usefully beneficent in
imparting both light and heat, without which this
earth would be about as dark and cold as a rat-hole,
and almost as fit to live in-really the dim spot
that a disconsolate philosophy would make it out
to be! -Beneficent and beautiful mystery! such as
thou art here in thy rising over these broken and
piled-up Alleganies; lighting up the grand countenance of Nature around, as with the smile and the
glory of a god! no wonder that all languages and
tongues, even from the Chaldee down to our modernest Brother-Jonathan dialects, should be exhausted in the utterance of such a worship." - (" Goodmorning, Mr. Towers. You seem to be in considerable astonishment. Take a seat. The expedition,
through Mr. Butcut, is addressing the great luminary, whose gorgeous rising we take to be a happy
omen for our enterprise.") -" Fountain of light and
life! -hailed by the choir of birds; encircled by
clouds of gold; fair as a bride and fiery as a bridegroom! thee to resemble- thee!-that was  the 
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC.
very boy's first wish and proud desire, through every
vicissitude of fortune, amid the glitter of prosperity,
above the tempests of mischance, to maintain an
undecaying splendor!"
After this address to the rising Splendor-part
of which was made once before by Alcibiades when
a banished man in Thrace at the court of King
Seuthes-where, it will be remembered by the
learned reader, he outdrank the whole barbarian
court-the king, queen, princes, courtiers, warriors,
ladies-in-waiting, and all -thus fulfilling his matchless destiny-peerless in everything, even in these
wild Thracian orgies- after this address to the great
luminary, we speedily arrayed ourselves, and forthwith appeared below-stairs, as respectable and picturesque a set of outlaws in appearance as ever
robbed a rich grandee of his gold, plundered monastery or cathedral of old of its molten gold and silver, or bore away shrieking maiden to the hidden
fastness in the forest.
It was in this order that we began our march:
Three of us were on horseback, with wallets hung
across our saddles, containing the provant for the
expedition-which provision consisted of six large
loaves of bread; some pounds of ground coffee;
sugar; about ten pounds of middling of bacon, to
fry our trout with; a boiled ham; salt, pepperand that's about all.  Cigars and tobacco to smoke,
each adventurer carried about his own person, to
87 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
gether with a flask of spirits to cure himself in case
he was bitten by a rattlesnake, or peradventure to
prepare his system beforehand against any deleteriouts effects from the bite -a somewhat unnecessary precaution, indeed, since we were all pretty well
convinced there were no snakes in the Canaan.
Three of us were afoot- two of our original party
and Powell, one of the hunters - he equipped, among
other things, with his rifle; Conway, the other hunter, we were to pick up on the way.
We were to ride and walk alternately-ride and
tie-until we reached the end of the -settlements,
which was as far as we could take the horses.
Pursuing the Northwestern road some three miles,
we reached the top of the Backbone ridge. Here,
turning at right-angles to the left, we followed a
mountain-road along the top of the ridge for some
miles, which at length took its course along the
eastern side of the mountain, gradually growing into
a mere single horse-tiack, until we reached Conway's house, the last settlement in this direction.
Here we picked up Conway, with his rifle and fiying-pan; and after a walk of some six miles or more
through a most noble forest of sugai-tiees, the beech,
maple, wild-cherry, balsam-firs, and hemlocks, and
over tracts of land wonderfully fertile, judging by
the great size of the trees, and the growth Of the
wild timothy upon one or two slight clearings we
passed through, we at length descended into a beau
88 
THE DAILE ON THE POTOMAC.
tiful little glade-more properly a dale in the mountains-some three hundred yards wide and two or
three miles long, where we were to turn out our
horses to pasture until our return.
A v
This dale is girt round upon its edges by a broad
belt of the Rhododendron   commonly called the
big laurel out here- which makes the dale a safe
enclosure for keeping our horses; for it is impossible that a horse can make his way through it, so
thick and lapped together everywhere are its branches. We had to enter it by a path cut out for the
purpose. When within, we barricaded the entrance
by piling up some young trees and brushwood
(which was equivalent to putting up the bars in a
/m
89
i
I0 
90        THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
fenced field), and rode on down the middle of the
wild meadow, through green grass, knee-high, and
waving gently in the summer wind, until we reached
a small stream, whose banks were overgrown with
osiers and other delicate shrubs. This was the infant
Potomac, destined before it reached the sea to expand
into that mighty river on whose broad bosom whole
navies may ride in safety or "flame in battle;" and
also famous all over Christendom for that it holds
fast-founded by its shores the capital of the staremblazoned republic. Here we halted and dismounted-took off saddles and bridles-turned
our horses loose-and prepared ourselves to enter
the untrodden wild that rose up before us, dark
with the glimmer and the gloom of the immemorial
woods!
Before the expedition moves, it is necessary that
we should enter into a few particulars descriptive
of the adventurers in the new aspect in which we
are about to present them to the reader.
Behold, then, at about one o'clock in the day,
the knights-errant of the Blackwater, in the middle
of this little grassy dale of the Potomac. Let us
point them out to the reader by name, and in a general way by character.
First, there stands before you a slight, elastic,
and somewhat gaunt gentleman, with a dark, concentrated eye, sunk deep beneath a marked and
rugged brow. The expression of his face at pres 
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC.
ent is particularly indicative of that sort of energy
and determination of character, which is very apt
to make its possessor what is vulgarly called
head-devil in all matters of feud, foray, or whatever enterprises that might be classed under the
designation of marauding- all dare-devil achievements. The imagination of the wilderness before
him, has called into play these latent qualities of
his nature. This gentleman wears a beard, after
the fashion of the middle ages, that has held undisturbed possession of his lower face for nOW some
fifteen years; with all his present surroundings, it
gives him the look of a brigand as in a picture;
meet him in the streets of a capital, and it would
impress you with the idea that he was a practitioner of astrology, or some other occult matter-may
be some Italian philanthropist, or revolutionary
conspirator- the friend of liberty all over the
world, wherever liberty had a market: his disdain
of a feather and all melo-dramatic show of appearance, precludes any idea of the Hungarian, as recently impressed upon our minds.   He wears a
green cloth cap, with a straight, projecting square
visor to it, like the European military caps. An
old black coat, with gray pantaloons, and a pair of
rough boots with large red tops- these drawn on
outside complete his dress.  He has no sinmall wal-y
let strapped to his back -a blanket and a great
coat rolled up constitute it, Around his neck is
91 
92        THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
suspended an artist's sketch-book. In his right
hand is a frying-pan. This is our artist, the Signor
Andante Strozzi.  Of course, he is of the illustrious
Florentine family of that name, some one of his
ancestors having escaped from the feuds and broils
of Italy, some centuries ago, and taken refuge on
these shores. The name has changed so much in
the course of time, and one thing and another, here
with us, that you would hardly recognise it, as it is
spelt and pronounced now in thesesdays of democratic disdain of all things appertaining to a man's
name and lineage. We, however, his more learned
friends, and not too extreme in our democracy,
choose to call him, according to the old Italian spelling and sound-Sti'ozzi.  There is a Dutch family
in Pennsylvania, the Strodes, who are disposed to
trace their origin in the same way from the Strozzi;
but this they have no right to do. The Strodes are
Teutonic in their descent; they are the old Saxon
-the undoubted High Dutch: Stride was the name
originally. The Strides, Striders, Strodes, and all
these, are of German extraction, and in fact the
same people originally.   Our friiend is the true
Strozzi, however; and he shows his Italian origin
by the peculiar beard he wears, his love of and genius for the arts (particularly those of painting and
music), and some slight brigandish characteristics
that belong to him, which last make him a somewhat dangerous antagonist for man or beast to daily 
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC.
with, and therefore one in every way the very person for an expedition into the Canaan-a man who
would laugh a bear in the face, and take particular
pleasure in pitching into a panther; one who would
be about as careless of consequences in any encounter as either of these two last-named gentlemen!
So much for the Signor Andante Strozzi.
That stout, thick-set, well-knit gentleman, whose
manner is somewhat eager, with face in a glow,
eye red, and mouth open- look at him! IHe is
laboring at present under an undue quantity of excitement. The idea of the wilderness has electrified
his system into intense sensation.  His ideas are
exaggerated out of all bounds. He has just finished
strapping on his shoulders an immense wallet, big
enough foI a mule to carry.  But he looks stout,
and broad, and strong is well made-and you
think it is all right, and that he has generously
loaded himself according to his greater power.
Well, he'll be tested presently. This is the gentleman who had the pleasant conversation with Towers yesterday, on the porch, about the rattlesnakes.
iHe wears an old brown sack-coat. His boots are
drawn on outside his pantaloons, and they are very
big, and stout, and rough, and reach up to his
knees: he bought them as a special defence against
the rattlesnake. On his head he has a broadbriimmed, black, slouch hat.  On his shoulders he
has the aforesaid large roll. In his right hand he
93 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
has a stick of laurel, with portions of the root attached, and which is as tall as himself. Tied to his
waist behind is a bit of sheepskin with the wool on
it, that he may have something soft to sit down
upon when he rests himself in the wilderness. You
perceive he goes in for the conveniences of life. On
the whole survey of this gentleman, you would say
that he was the make and look of a man to lift or
carry a heavy weight, or to pull up a sapling by its
roots-to hit a hard blow; good at knocking down
and dragging out; but not the best show of a man
for a hard walk, or climbing mountains, or getting
well through a half-tnile brake of the rhododendron.
This is Mr. Butcut.
That thin, sinewy, hard, tough-looking gentleman,
resting himself upon his sound leg, which is his left,
and a-tiptoe on his right, which is his broken one,
shortened and stiffened at the knee, is Mr. Triptolemus Todd-our Murad the Unlucky.  In consideration of his lameness, it has been decreed that he
shall carry no burden; yet of his own accord he
has mounted Powell's rifle, the muzzle of which he
has pointed right in among us; but, as he is undoubtedly the most heedless man in the United
States, we have taken care that there shall be no
priming in the pan. This remarkable gentleman's
mind has been, somehow or other, impressed with
an extraordinary idea of the wonderful and amazing
in regard to the Fairfax stolre, and he is now look
94
4 
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC.
ing away off up the dale, as far as possible, to see
if he can't discover it. He has a confused idea in
his mind that this Fairfax stone is the biggest thing
of its sort in the state of Virginia; but he has no
definite idea about it: it may be like the rock of
Gibraltar, or the rock of ages; it may be a basaltic
pillar, like Lot's wife, or it may be a great, huge
tablet, upon which some boundary hieroglyphics
have been carved. Of course, therefore, he has no
very definite idea of the sort of thing he's looking
for. Just at this moment something vague looms
up before his intent gaze into the distance, and his
face is all ablaze with excitement as he exclaims,
stretching his long, sinewy arm far before him, with
his fingers spread out, and all pointing different
ways- "Fellows, yonder's Fairf ac's stone!"  Murad is a light, wiry man, of some five feet ten
inches in stature; and, without going into particulars, we will only say of him that he has a look of
exposure about him, as if the heavens-cold and
hot-the suns of August and the snows of December-had been contending for him for many years,
with such equal success, that neither of them had
been able to take him entirely. His dress is a very
indifferent one. It is torn in several places already;
and the fear is that before we get back he will have
none of it, and that we shall have to paint him, or
rather stain him with the juice of berries, to pre
95 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
serve him from absolute exposure-fix him up like
Prince Vortigern
"A painted vest Prince Vortigern had on,
Which from a naked Pict his sire had won!"
To tell the whole truth in regard to Murad, there
never was a man that went upon an expedition of
any sort with so little preparation and under such
unlucky circumstances. He had but one suit of
woollen clothes with him, all the rest being light
summer linens, of no use here. His pocket-book,
with some bank-notes in it, he left behind upon his
table, and had only a small purse with some six or
seven dollars of silver in it. He had a note in bank
for a thousand dollars, due three days after he left
home, and for which he had made no provision;
and, in the hurry of shaving himself to get off in
time, he had cut a great gash in his cheek, which
gave him a look as of a sabre-cut received years
ago at some such battle as Borodino or Waterloo,
or on Pompey's side at Pharsalia, where Caesar's
veterans aimed at the face.-But enough of Mr.
Todd: the reader will now be able to picture him
sufficiently well for the purposes of this narrative.
The next gentleman that we shall introduce is
Doctor Adolphus Blandy. You see him there over
on the other side of this little rivulet, the Potomac,
in the act of taking an affectionate leave of that
powerful dapple-gray with the bobbed tail. He
96 
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC.
has just imprinted a kiss upon the soft muzzle of
the gray. His gentle heart is touched that Rinaldo
has to be committed to the rude mercy of the wild
beasts of Canaan for so many days; and with a tear
of repentance that he brought him here, and a sigh
of regret that he has to leave him, has made his
farewells-half in fear he shall never see Rinaldo
again this side of horse-heaven. The doctor is a
very dainty gentleman, and given much to personal
elegance of life.  He is equipped at all points.  His
large boots come fully up to the knee, and they are
soft and pliable, made of the best French leather.
His doublet-coat is substantial, with many convenient pockets, and fits him comfortably. He has a
quarter-dollar rough straw-hat, tied round with a
red riband in a good bow-knot. As he is nearsighted, he wears a pair of gold spectacles. Blandy
is a large, fine-looking man, and he is of an easy
and gracious presence. There is a sort of disdain
about him of the big wallet that he has strapped to
his shoulders; he seems to feel that it should be
borne by a menial. He has evidently been trained
to a life of luxurious ease-like Dives, has been
clothed in purple and fine linen, and fed daily upon
dainties.  Ennuied with indulgence, he has come
into the wilderness, to purchase, at the expense of
its hardships, a new zest to his existence-a zest
which the fortune of his condition can not otherwise afford himni.-But enough of Blandy. Let us
5
97 
98        THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
picture to you another gentleman, - remarkable
among the sons of men-also among their daugliters.
There, off at the edge of the vale, at the foot of a
branching tree, stands one who is no bad idea of the
famous knight of La Mancha, if you would only
suppose the immortal Don to have been not quite
so raw-boned as history has recorded him. This
gentleman is somewhat tall, and of a loose and
dangling aspect, in keeping with the somewhat careless ease of his character. To look at him now, as
he stands, you would suppose him in the act of propitiating the god of the wilderness with votive offerings; for he has just finished hanging up on the
lowermost branches of that beautiful and fairest
tree all the saddles and bridles, and other horseequipments, rowelled spurs and whips, &c.; and
with his large and lustrous eye (" heaven-eyed creature," as Wordsworth calls Coleridge) resting in
pleasure upon the picturesque grouping he has effected of them, you easily imagine him some deep
enthusiast of the forest, hanging his votive offerings
upon the wilderness-god's shrine. Lingering he
stops, absorbed in what he has done; then turns
slowly away, and having reached the party in the
middle of the dale, he exclaims earnestly, "Well,
gentlemen, I don't think the wild beasts can eat up
our saddles and bridles, spurs and whips, any how
-no matter what they may accomplish upon our 
THE DALE ON THE POTOMAC.
horses!"  This gentleman is Mr. Guy Philips-the
County Guy-the Prior-but more properly the
Master of St. Philips, for St. Philips is the name of
his hold, where he keeps the world at bay. He is
somewhat tall and delicate of form, of a high visage
and a lofty carriage-and, as we have said, taking
away the idea of the gaunt appearance of Don Quixotte, is not very unlike that immortal champion of
the right and redresser of the wrong. The Master
is a man of middle life, and has seen something of
both man and woman in his time, both high and
low. In many a gay and glittering scene of revelry
has he wasted the golden days of his exuberant
youth -his heart swelling to the sounding minstrelsey, and his soul entranced by love and beauty.
And also, like the good Lord Clifford, he has been
"In huts where poor men lie"
and there learned a wiser lore than life could otherwise teach him. The Master has long since learned
much sound knowledge in his time-that pleasure
is of the things that perish in the using-that woman's looks teach but folly-that there is a great
deal of good sense in the Proverbs of Solomon, and
wisdom in the Ecclesiastes, &c., &c.; in fact, he
has begun to know that Solomon was a very wise
man: and, arriving at this distant glimpse of truth,
he has taken to the woods and rills, and has learned
how to be reasonably happy. But what would she,
99 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
the beautiful Mary Dale, think of him could she
see him now-he who erewhile basked in the sunshine of
"Her eyes' blue languish, and her golden hair!"
could she see him now, his whole countenance shedding rays of joy in every direction, like a golden
aureola on an angel's brow, as he puts his hand to
his mouth and sounds a loud and prolonged buglecall from out the midst of this lovely dale, while all
the mountains round cry out responsive with their
thousand voices!  "Alas, poor Guy!" she would
say, " I little thought when surrounded by mirrors
that multiplied our image, in rooms gorgeously festooned with hangings of burnished gold and silver,
and reclining on couches softer than the bed of roses
the emperor Verus dreamed himself away on-I
little thought that you, then stealthily playing with
the tangles of my hair, and openly fettered by
my eye, would ever come to such wild destiny as
this!"
The reader may now picture to himself our two
guides, the hunters Powell and Conway, and he has
the party complete-Powell a thin, sinewy, and
yet muscular man, with long, straight locks falling
down from his head like strands of rope; with a pillow-case thrown over his shoulders, in which was
our provision: and Conway a short, wiry, stringy,
thick-set little structure of whipcord, equipped in
100 
THE DALE ON' THE POTOMAC.
like manner as Powell - each with his rifle and
pouch.
But we are dallying too long here in the dalewe must -up and away!  Let us begin the march,
however, in another chapter.
101 
THE BLACKWATER CIHRONICLE.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
POWELL is in the lead followed by Conway, and
we all start with a shout upon our walk-jumping
the baby Potomac with a bound, and falling into a
line of single file -winding through the long grass
by a track made by the beer coming down into the
dale to drink. The Signor waved his frying-pan
aloft, and shouted out gayly the burden of some old
hurrah song. The Master doubled up his hand and
blew upon it for a buglet. Peter capered along
102 
SHE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
nimbly, in dancing measure, like a fairy on the
green-big  wallet and all.  Trip threw out his
game leg, sweeping it against the tall grass, as a
mower sweeps his scythe. And the Doctor took his
last lingering look of Rinaldo -waved his lily hand
and sighed adieu
"Adieu, for evermore, my love,
And adieu, for evermore!"
The horses snorted and pltunged around us, with
their tails flung over their backs, and hovered
along our line, until we came to the belt of laurel
that girts the edge of the meadow, when they
wheeled, and left us to our fate-and we them to
theirs. In a few moimnents we were breaking our
way through the thick tangled branches of the
laurel, and in mud and water half up to our knees.
But we fought the way gallantly, and, gaining the
firm ground, began the ascent of the mountain by
a winding deer-track-the same we had followed
through the dale.
About half a mile up we halted by the little Elklick-a deep and wood-embosomed gougce-as the
hunters called it-in the side of the mountain, filled
with black marsh-ooze, in which were little pools of
stagnant, saltish water. Here the boldest held his
breath for awhile, in expectation of getting a shot at
a deer. But whatever chance there might have been
for this, it was soon destroyed by the loud outcries
of Mr. Butcut, who was yet some distance down the
103 
THlE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
mountain. Presently that gentleman came up, with
his face about the color of a full-blown peony, the
perspiration rolling down from him, and blowing
hard like an over-driven horse.  "Oh! I'll be
if I can stand this," he gasped out vehemently.
"By the Apostle Paul! gentlemen"-(Peter is very
familiar with Shakspeare, and is the best amateur
actor of high tragedy in our country to-day; had
he gone on the stage early in life, he would have
undoubtedly acquired an unsurpassed name in our
theatrical annals)-" By the Apostle Paul! gentlemen," he exclaimed in a manner unconsciously
tragic, "this mountain has cast more terror into the
soul of Richard than hlie cau well endure." And relapsing immediately into the commonplace, he went
on.  "And don't you all know well enough, gentlemen, that I'm rather thick-winded at best, and here
you have fairly run away from me up this infernal,
all-fired hill, as you call it - hill indeed! Powell,
how far are we from the top?"
"Not more than a mile or so, I reckon, Mr.
Butcut."
"A mile or so! There it is-I knew it would
be this way. Fellows, let's turn back." This he
said bigly. It was received with a burst of derision.
"Let me make a proposition.  If you turn back I'll
agree to pay all the expenses of the expedition,
from home and back."
I Fiddle-de-de!" said one.
104 
THE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
"Devil take you and all expenses of all sorts!"
said another.
"Not for your whole estate, in fee simple!" said
a third.
"No money can buy us!" said Triptolemus.
"IHear me, gentlemen," said Mr. Butcut, entreatingly, "of course I had no idea that the money
could influence you. I didn't mean that. I'll give
the money to any charity you may designate. And
Powell and Conway, I'll give you five dollars more
than you were to get."
" Not so!" said the artist, "you shall do no such
thing!"
"We don't want anything more than was agreed
upon!" said both Powell and Conway.
"Ugh, uh!" said Triptolemus. "You advised
me not to come, did you!"
"You'll get along better, Peter, after the first
blow or two!"
"The ac~quirit vire8 eundo, will apply to you
after awhile, But, don't entertain any despair!"
"I can't stand it, gentlemen, I tell you, and carry
this load on my back-I'm no horse!"
It will be perceived by the reader, that Mr. Butcut made a very determined attempt to break up
the expedition, here at the Elk-lick, but all to no
avail. Hiis mutinous designs were promptly crushed
in the bud. It being clear that nothing was to be
5*
105 
THE BLACKWATRER CHRONICLE.
gained in this way, he was determined that he
would get rid of his burden.
"Well, gentlemen," he said, laughing, "I confess
that I've failed in my vigorous effort to turn you
back: that's no go, certainly:- of course I wasn't
in earnest. But really, seriously speaking, I'm no
horse, and can't carry all this load."
"What's a blanket and a great-coat to a stout
man like you, two feet and a half at least over the
shoulders?"
"If you think it's nothing, suppose you just feel
it."  Here he unstrapped his wallet, and handed it
round for inspection. It was, in fact, a great deal
heavier than any of us had imagined, large as it
looked. So it was determined that he must be
lightened of his load. Accordingly the wallet was
unrolled- and no wonder it was so heavy; for
instead of containing merely a single blanket and
a great-coat, the blanket was found to be a large
new double one, and in addition to this, there was
an old, thick-wadded coverlet of a bed, commonly
called a Yankee-blanket, that had been used as a
saddle-blanket, until it had grown doubly heavy
from the grease and perspiration it had accumulated
in a long horseback service. Peter, very provident
of his creature comforts, with the intention of being
extra luxurious when in camp at night, had very
quietly, and unknown to the party, secured this
treasure to his own use. It was really, therefore,
106 
THE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
no such great wonder that the first half-mile of the
Backbone had been too much for him. Such a
mountain is a pretty stiff encounter for a man of no
superfluous flesh, and the soundest lungs-and so
the lightest of us found it; but a thick-set, stoutbuilt, two hundred pounder of a gentleman, yet in
the soft condition, and- with not the best breathing
apparatus in the world- a butcut like But, will
attest the quality of his metal, whenever he attempts to match himself against the Bone of the
Alleganies, and that, too, even though he has not
a heavy-wadded blanket additional in his wallet.
The reader will understand now, that the only
thing really the matter with Mr. Botecote, was that
he had overloaded himself, as was intimated when we
were down in the dale of the Potomac. So, hanging
the discountenanced encumbrance upon a limb of
the nearest tree, he took heart again, and once more
grew animated with all the hope of the Blackwater.
"Come, move on, men," he exclaimed, as he
strapped on his shoulder his now diminished burden.  "This is something like.  I can stand it now
with any of you. Move on, Powell."
And the expedition moved again. It was hard
work in good earnest. But we went on up the
rugged steep, scrambling our way as best we could,
now through the thick underwood, now in among
great masses of rock, and over fallen trees so decomposed that they would not bear your weight,
1017 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
until we reached what seemed to be the top of the
mountain. Here those who were foremost called a
halt, and sat down to rest upon a mossy log that
imbedded you for about a foot. The others came
straggling in -Triptolemus falling in, with his arms
spread out before him, and his lame leg out in the
air behind, as though it didn't belong to him, and
crying out as he pitched in, "I say, fellows, is this
Fairfax's stone?  Ugh-nih! Here I am!"
" Fairfax's stone!" said Peter, getting it out as
his breath would allow.  "Fairfax wouldn't have
climbed this hill for all the six millions and a half
acres of his inheritance. I take it he was a man of
too much sense.  Heavens —but I'm nearly gone!
How far are we from the horses, Powell?"
" About two miles, I take it. Its about two miles,
Conaway, up to here?  Yes-so I thought."
" Come, move on, men. There must be no mutinous conversation indulged in. Peter's for a revolt
again, I see," said the Signor.
Peter was now rested, and he resented the imputation with many valorous words.
" No, gentlemen, no such trifle as this wilderness
shall prevent me from fishing in the Blackwater!
It isn't more than two or three miles off, Powell, is
it?  And down hill, you say, from here?"
" We  are over the worst of it now, Mr. Butcut,"
said Powell.
"Move on men-move on men," said Peter,
108 
THE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
"but don't go too fast-I'm afraid Mr. Todd can't
keep up with us."
"Ugh-uh!  Never mind me, I can get along
with any of you."  And here Trip pitched over a
rock and disappeared (his game leg last) into a
thicket, laughing out his  6gh-h-! and presently
he came into line again, as if nothing had occurred
more than he looked for.
The wilderness was growing wilder. We had,
some time since, lost all trace of anything like even
a deer-path. Still, pleasantly, and'in fine spirits,
we pursued our way. Now we had to climb some
steep hill-side, clinging to the undergrowth to pull
ourselves up, and now we would come up against
a barrier of fallen trees - some of them six feet high
as they lay along the ground, and coated with moss
half a foot thick- some so decomposed that they
recreated themselves in the young hemlocks and
firs that grew up out of them -some more recently
fallen, with great mounds of earth and stone heaved
up with their roots; these mounds sometimes covered over by other trees thrown across them, and
thus affording shelter to the wild animals from the
snows and storms of winter. Over all these we
would climb and roll ourselves across; and sometimes, such obstruction did they present to our
course, we would be obliged to make a detour
round for the length of a quarter of a mile may be,
and find ourselves only advanced a hundred paces
109 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
on the straight line of our route. It was thus we
went along-np-hill and down-now  along the
side of a rib of the mountain-now over its cone,
and now along it-down through deep ravines and
up out of them, and scarcely able'at any time to
see further ahead than some twenty yards, so thick
were the leaves about us; and not often able to
catch a glimpse of the sun, so dense was the mass
of foliage umnbrellaed out everywhere  above us.
Still there was a great wild delight in it all; and
by this time we had become somewhat inured to
the work; we were beginning to improve in condition, and we felt our sinews and muscles comling
into better play every step we took.
After awhile, thus pursuing our steady advance,
we came to a small rivulet, trickling its way down
a shallow ravine, and evidently making its course
to the west. This was a little rill that sent forth its
mite, high up in these loftiest regions, to form the
waters of the Cheat river; the Cheat falling into
the Monongahela-the Monongahela into the Ohio
.-the  Ohio into the Mississippi-and so to the
great Atlantic reservoir. It was clear, now, that
we were on the other side of the Backbone.
"This water, gentlemen," said Powell, "is making for the Blackwater. We are across the Bone."
"'How far now, Powell, before we reach the
falls?" asked Peter.
" Well, I reckon about four miles-maybe."
110 
THE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
"Four miles! It can't be. It's no such thing.
Why, Mr. Powell, didn't youl say distinctly, that it
was but four miles altogether from the place we
left the horses."
"Oh, no-I didn't say that! I told you, we
could bring the horses along to within about
four miles of the falls - over to another glade,
which we will come to before long."
"I'm deceived, gentlemen.  We  have all been
deceived by these men. Conway is this the case
that Powell says?"
"Powell knows the country better than I do.
He's nearly right, I guess. I should suppose now,
we are about four miles away."
"Gentlemen, hold on-stop," said Peter, "I've
a proposition to make."
"You had better not be left behind," said the
Signor, "you might get lost out here.  Keep up
with the line."
On we went, increasing our pace a little, for the
day was hying westward; and if we intended to
reach the Blackwater by nightfall, there was no
time to waste.
"This is intolerable I" said Peter.  "It's all nonsense-not a particle of sense it.  I say-hold on,
I've a proposition to make."
" I don't think we are treating him right," said
the Doctor, a little tired himself. "It isn't fair-he
ill 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
might be suffering.  We  ought to halt, and hear
what he has to say."
As Peter's voice was strong altogether unimpaired, there was a rather general impression that
there was a good deal of good walking in him yet.
But we halted and threw ourselves down upon the
moss.
"What's the propositionn? Let's have it while
we are resting-for there's no time to lose."
" Well, gentlemen, its strikes me we ought to
encamp."
This was met with a general dissent.
"It's my opinion we are lost," continued Peter,
"decidedly lost.  These men  have deceived  us.
They start out by telling us that its only four miles
from where we left our horses to the Blackwater.
Well, we left them at one o'clock, and it's now five
by my watch. We've been four hours in coming
here- and I'm nearly dead at that! Now they
tell us they've got yet more than four miles to go!
I don't believe they know themselves where we are.
I believe we are lost, and that we are walking
about here for nothing. Powell, tell me, didn't
you say just now that this little rivulet was one of
the sources of the Blackwater?"
"Yes-and I think so still, Mr. Butcut."
"Only think so! There it is, gentlemren. lHe
don't know where he is. I don't believe we are
near the Blackwater."
112 
THE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
"Nor I either," said Triptolemus, who grew uneasy at the idea of being lost-remembering the
story of the lost man, and the bones that were found
out here.  "If I could have seen Fairfax's stone, I
might have had some confidence. How can this
little stream make the Blackwater, when it's as
white antd clear as any water we have seen?"
"Yes, Murad's got it! How can it be, Powell?"
"Well, gentlemen, it's no use talking.  I am in
the right direction. Don't you say so, Conaway?"
"Yes, I do."
" Well, that's all," continued Powell, a little miffed
for the moment, "that I can do for you.  There a'n't
any fingerboards out here to point out the way.
All I can do for you is, to take a general direction
right, and I know I must hit the Blackwater somewhere- a mile or two higher up, or lower down."
"But we've been four hours getting here, and
have come but four miles, you think; and have four
more to go, you say!"
"Well, no man need expect to see the falls of the
Blackwater without some sharp walking. A mile
ol a mile and a half an hour, in a straight linewhich would make two or three, twisting about as
we have to go-is about as much as we can make
out here.  I could have brought you a straighter
course-down through the big laurel, you know,
Conaway-but if ever you once got into that, we
know you would be glad enough to be out again!
113 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
-and so we have been trying to head the laurel as
much as possible."
"Right, men-you are right," said the Signor.
"I am not so entirely certain," responded Adolphus, "but we must abide our fate now."
"Right-all right."'
"I withdraw what I said, men," observed Peter,
it just occurring to him that if the guides should
take it into their heads to leave us, we would be in
rather a bad way.  "I was very much heated just
now, and a good deal blown-that's the truth; and
the mind, you know, Powell, will take the hue and
tone of the feelings. This little rest has put it all
right, though."
"Handsomely done, and philosophically accounted for."
"Move on, Powell-it's all right!"
The Signor waved his frying-pan encouragingly,
and the Master blew away upon his hand-bugle.
With restored spirit, the expedition once more
dashed along through the forest. Up started three
or four deer from the bushes, and, showing the underside white of their tails as they threw them over
their backs, with a leap and a bound they were lost
in the forest. Murad ran after them a little way
out of the line, and pitching down presently over
some rough ground, his lame leg up in the air, he
laughed out his "Ugh —uh!"  and gave up the
chase, saying, as he fell into line again —
114 
THE MARCH lINTO THE CANAAN.
"They are monstrous swift. HIow the fury they
get over the rough ground so fast, I can't see!"
"They were born so," replied old Conway.
" It's a gift to them," said Powell.  "Every animal has his gift. It's their protection. The bear
climbs, and the deer runs."
The hunters discoursing their lore of the forest,
we came down to the edge of some swampy ground,
and found ourselves in front of a wide stretch of
laurel, tangled and thick everywhere around. To
cross it-as it was clear it could not be avoided in
any way-the hunters looked about for the best
place to go in. At length, finding a spot that bid
the fairest, they made their way into the brake, and
desperately after them we all followed, as best we
could. Such pulling and tugging-such twisting,
plunging, breaking, crashing, and tearing
"I never remember ever to have heard"
or seen. Here was one held fast by his wallet, and
twisting about like an eel to get himself loose; there
another who had got upon a huge fallen tree-thus
avoiding the laurel by walking along its surface as
far as it reached through the swamp; but it was so
decomposed, that presently he sank into it up to his
arms-and he was stuck.  Here another who had
reached a stream, walking in it as far as in its windings it kept a course that corresponded with our
direction. There one grown entirely desperate, and
115 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
endeavoring to break his way through by main
strength. The hunters took it more knowingly, and
would search about for the thinnest places-sometimes going back upon their tracks when they would
get into a very thick part of the brake, and trying
it another way.
"I',, -,   I~,     11
~~~Th~~~i'~   ~    ~~~~~  /~~~~~~~~~<Y  \;;  ~ 1I.
~~;~;~~~j~~~~~~~\A ~x~(I~~~~~~~ ~Y~~~~i~\;~~~   il
~~~~i~~~~j;~;;AL- -~~                ~  - ~'
To tell how at last we all did get out, overtaxes
any powers of description that I possess. Peter succeeded eventually, and threw himself down on the
ground entirely exhausted, murmuring something
about the other side of Jordan, and the laurel being a hard road to travel. The Prior came ashore
with his big knife open in his hand, having at length,
-like Wit in Aioore's song- " cut his bright way
through." How Triptolemus got through has never
116 
THE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
yet been fairly ascertained; but it is believed by
the whole expedition that he fell through the most
of the way-for whenever we had any glimpse of
him, his head was down and his feet up. Somehow
or other the passage was successfully accomplished;
and, after resting sufficiently, we took up the line
of march, with a unanimous request of the guides
that they would avoid all the laurel that it was
possible, by any skill of their woodcraft, to get
round.
" And this is the beautiful rhododendron, Adolphus, that you and I have been trying so hard to
grow," said the Master.
" I'll pull it all up as soon as I get home," replied
Galen spitefully - "if, indeed, I shall ever see that
blessed spot again."
" No-I'll now have a thicket of it at the Priory,
if it is only that I may be able to demonstrate, when
I grow old, the miracles I shall recount of this expedition."
" A  good idea," said the artist.  "I'll make a
grand national painting of it, and call it' The Passage of the Laurel.'"
"And hang it up by Leutze's'Passage of the
Delaware."'
" Couldn't you put Fairfax's stone somewhere in
the picture?" inquired Trip.
" Oh, certainly," returned the Signor, " and draw
you, Trip, pitching into it!"
117 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
" Have Butcut stuck up to his shoulders in a decomposed hemlock, and a bear after him!"
" A rattlesnake, too!"
"A panther or so!"
" And some owls about!'"
"I'll try and do the subject justice, gentlemen,"
replied the Signor. " No historical feature shall be
left out."
Thus commenting on the passage of the laurel,
we moved on; and after a while, descending a long
hillside, we came to the head of a glade, through
which a stream of some size ran-its waters of a
light-chocolate hue.  We were very much jaded by
this time; and so we threw ourselves down upon the
soft, beautiful grass, knee-high everywhere around,
and for half an hour enjoyed such grateful rest as
seldom comes to the sons and daughters of men
who stay in civilized regions; it recompensed even
the laurel, so exquisite was the rest, and so gorgeous
the bower where we took it!
"And then,he said,'How sweet it were
A fisher or a hunter here,
A gardener in the shade,
Still wand'ring with an easy mind
To build a household fire, and find
A home in every glade!
"'What days and what sweet years! -Ah me!
Our life were life indeed, with thee
So passed in quiet bliss,
And all the while,' said he,'to know
That we were in a world of wo,
On such an earth as this!'
118 
THE MARCH INTO THE CANAAN.
"And then he sometimes interwove
Fond thoughts about a father's love:
'For there,' said he,'are spun
Around the heart such tender ties,
That our own children to our eyes
Are dearer than the sun.
"'Sweet Ruth! and could you go with me,
My helpmate in the woods to be,
Our camp at night to rear Or run, my own adopted bride,
A sylvan huntress at my side,
And drive the flying deer!'
"'Beloved Ruth!"'
Sulch thoughts filled the teeming:'of the Prior,
as he lay half sleeping in the beautiful glade. - But
we can not follow him in his dreams of wild bliss;
for we must go into another chapter, and bivouac
for the night.
119 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS.
WHILE yet the sun in his westward journey had
but about an hour to go, before he left the Canaan
to darkness and the expedition not to mention the
bears and owls, &c., about-a snake stole into our
bower, and disturbed the heavenly repose of the
glade. A very harmless, inoffensive little grasssnake-polished and slippery, disturbed by the
rolling about of some one of the party, wound itself
along swiftly over one of the extended arms of
Doctor Blandy, as he lay sprawled out upon his
back —gazing up into the heavens, and dreaming
dreams of the balmy summer's eve. Galen sprang
to his feet, and jumped some ten paces off into the
meadow. Whereupon we all did the same. It was
a rattlesnake at least to our startled imagination!until we saw, to our shame, that it was not. Being
on our feet, however, the word was given to take
up the line of march again- and off we went:
the guides being of opinion, that by crossing the
ridge before us, we would come upon the Blackwater
by night.
120 
THE LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS.
We made our way out of the glade, encountering
but a small strip of laurel; and once more filed
into the dense wild forest. As we advanced we
grew            more and  more silent.  We were evidently
beginning to flag in spirit. It was our first day,
and we were not yet inured to the toil. Every
now and then some startled deer would give a little
life to the party-but it would not last, and we
trudged along almost noiseless over the mossy
ground. Instead of the country's giving indication
of our being near a stream such as the Blackwater,
it was growing more hilly and broken ever since
we left the glade. The shades of evening too, were
fast   closing in u  pon us. Something was wrongwe ought certainly to have reached the Blackwater
before this. The hunters were evidently in doubt
about their course, and they now held frequent constlItations with each other. They had told us before
we set off from the dale of the Potomac, that they
would certainly take us to our destination by night,
and they were anxious to accomplish their purpose;
they feared their skill as guides would be called in
question if they failed in what they had been so
certain of accomplishing. It was now near sundown, and we were hemmed in, on all sides, by
mountains. The impression that we were really
lost was uppermost in the minds of all of us; and
presently        we held a    general council -the result of
which was, that if we did not come to some indica
6
121 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
tion of the Blackwater, when we crossed the next
ridge, we would encamp for the night.
Crossing over this ridge, everything looked as
before. It was all the same rugged, dense, dark,
deep, grand gloom of mountainous forest that we
had left behind us-no appearance of laurel-the
sure harbinger of water; no such sloping down of
the hills anywhere, as looked like the descent into
a valley, such as a stream of any size would find its
way through; and above all, listen as intently as
we might, no sound of a waterfall (such as we were
assured would greet our ears from the river we
sought) was mingled with the song of the evening
wind. Therefore there was but one voice in the general assembly of the expedition —and that was to
halt for the night, and take counsel of to-morrow's
sun as to our direction. Finding a little trickling
rill in the bed of a rugged ravine close at hand, we
resolved upon taking up our abode by its waters
for the night. Accordingly the most appropriate
spot we could find was selected; and, throwing
down our burdens in a pile, we commenced the
construction of a camp, with a great deal of busy
bustle. As the reader unacquainted with the ways
of a wilderness life, may take some interest in
knowing how this was done, we will enter, for his
benefit, into the particulars.
In the first place, then, the hunters set to work
and gathered together a number of dried logs and
122 
THE LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS.
limbs of trees, that they found scattered about the
forest, making a pile some ten or twelve feet long,
and three or four feet high. They then picked out
the driest bark and branches of pine they could
find, and laid them about through the pile. Next
they raised some fire by striking sparks from the
flints of their rifles into tow, and carefully applying
this to the pine bark and other comnbustible wood
they had gathered; it was not long before we had
our wood-pile in a blaze-which was soon in creased into a spreading and swelling flame, by the
young hemlocks and fir trees that we were busily
engaged for some time in cutting down and throw ing upon the pile.
While a part of the force were engaged in this
work, others were busy in arranging the camp.
The ground was cleared away in front of the fire,
and this place was covered over with the softest
branches of hemlock that we could gather-two
of the party being out cutting for the purpose. A
large log was brought and laid along the back of
the camp, and this was covered over to the height
of two or three feet with hemlock and fir branches,
serving as a sort of wall to protect us from any
intrusion from that side, of beasts, or what not, that
might be disposed to invade us during the night.
The camp was so arranged, that when we slept, our
heads would be against this barrier, and our feet to
the fire. Thle sides also were filled up between the
123 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
trees with branches. When it was all completed,
we had a tenement-a lodge in the wildernessthe ground floor of which was hemlock branches a
foot deep, three sides, also, hemlock and fir, and
the fourth side a wood-pile, twelve feet long, four
feet high, and all afire.  And the roof above us:   I"'Tis the blue vault of heaven, with its crescent so pale,
And all its bright spangles-quoth Allen-a-Dale!"
and where will you find a grander in a king's palace.
Our rifles, bags of provisions, coffee-pot, tin-cups,
and frying-pan -all we had, were safely deposited
in one corner of the lodge. The wallets were unrolled, and the blankets, great coats, &c., &C.including the knives and pistols, were thrown out
for use. Having cut down as many small trees as
would serve to keep the fire going for the night, we
now assembled in the camp, and commenced preparations for supper, for which we were by this
time about as ravenous as the beasts of a menagerie
about feeding time. The bread, biscuits, and cold
ham, were brought forth. The sugar was untied.
Conway sat about preparing the coffee: Powell
started the frying-pan on the hot embers, and soon
had it hissing and crackling with the slices of fat
middling of bacon with which he filled it; until at
length the more delicate aroma of the hemlock was
lost to our noses, in the ascendency of the bacon-side.
Those of us who were not engaged in these enticing preparations, were lying about on the henm
124: 
THE LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS.
lock, enjoying ourselves in the abandonment of
forest undress-that is, in our stocking feet, with
ungirded vest, unsuspendered; and spread out
around, in all the various attitudes that it was possible for a set of tired men to stretch themselves in.
At length the supper was announced as readyand then it was devoured. To say that it was
merely eaten up, would be a preposterous defamation of any ideas of eating, such as the word generally conveys in civilized life. In an exceeding
short space of time, of all the liberal preparation,
there were, at all events, no visible evidences remaining- except the table-service —the tin and
the iron. It was as if a set of jugglers had suddenly
juggled it out of sight-caused it all to evanish.
It convinced my mind more thoroughly than anything I have witnessed in my somewhat varied life
-that man is, by nature, a wild beast. Reduce
him into his original elements- take off all this
varnish, this overlarding of civilization-put him
out in the Canaan here for about a month, and
what beast is there of the wild that will out-raven
him! Poetry, philosophy, arts, and science- these
have humanized him; and made him, even when
he is most starved, wave his hand to his friend, and
with a smile upon his countenance, say, Take the
first grab, as did the famished Signor to the rapacious Butcut- which made the yet unsatisfied
Blandy hand over tihe last slice of the middling to
125 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
lame Triptolemus, and belie himself, when he sai,,
Take that, TrYp, I'm, not a-hungry.  The reader
will perceive, from this, that the wilderness had
not yet made us altogether savage; also he will
perceive though, that its tendency is toward the
dehumanization of man-the resolving him into
his original simple element of wild beast.
I would take advantage of this occasion- all the
great historians do so-to philosophize a little upon
the absolute necessity there is for good government
over mankind-that there should be good  laws,
and firmly maintained-how stability and order,
and the social decorums, that make nations refined
and great, and keep them so, are thereby only upheld: how otherwise, man will soon convert the
garden-spots of the world into a bear-walk. These
high corollaries I would deduce from our experience
of the wilderness, and go to the trouble of showing
them convincingly, with reasons manifold, were it
not, that just at this time there is a practical teaching of them everywhere over the land, that is making
the lesson manifest to the dullest mind -and which
practical teaching, if not arrested, will soon convert
the garden of our American civilization into such a
bear-walk as the world has not yet seen.
Be these things, however, as they may- let the
republic tremble to its foundations, if it must-let 
political and social anarchy take it, if it has to be
so-there are those about who will right it, and
1i26 
THE LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS.
rear its firm head higher, and higher yet, to the
skies.  In the meantime, when  the hurly-burly
comes, we of this expedition have made up our
minds to seize upon the Canaan; and with the
knowledge we have acquired of its fastnessessuch as the laurel:-its gorges, narrow defiles,
rocky precipices, and torrent passes — all its military availabilities-it will go hard with us if we
don't hold it against all the other freebooters of the
United States-let their name be legion!
However, upon this point we must keep our
counsel, or we might be frustrated in our enterprise
by the rapine of the times.  A wise man is his own
lantern.
In the meantime, the supper was gone -juggled,
or jugged away; and the animals to all appearances appeased. We now gathered into the inner
penetralia of our hold; and stowed ourselves away
in every violation of the rules of ceremony known
to any of the nations of Christendom, or of the
heathen- smoking cigars or pipes- telling stories,
and singing songs, of love, war, romance, the chase,
intermixed with our national anthems, and local
ballads, pathetic or humorous, now in the harmony
of Germany or of Italy, of France or old romantic
Spain, and now to the strains of some low, dulcet,
African refrain. Thus were passed the first watches
of the night, until, at length, tired nature yielded to
the omnipotence of sleep; and, hushed by the night
127 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
winds murmuring among the immemorial trees,
while the blazing pile at our feet illumined the
forest around and above us with its silver and
golden flame, imparting a magic sheen to the leaves
and branches of the woods, until it all seemed the
lighted tracery of some vast Gothic minster of the
128 
THE LODGE IN THE WILDERNESS.
wild; and with nothing above us but the vault of
heaven, studded with its glittering stars (which we
couldn't see)-and nothing beneath  us but the
spicy smnelling hemlock-and nothing over us but
a blanket-we fell asleep, as sweetly and confidingly here in the wild, as children beneath the
roof-tree of some guardian home.
And  so, tired reader, good night!  May your
sleep be ever as safe in the city, and your dreams
never worse than those that haunted the hemlock
of our lost expedition.
129
6* 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
CIHAPTEIR X.
THE BLACKWATER FOUND-A GREFAT NUMBER OF TROUT
TAKEN-MR. BUTCUT FRIES SOME FISiH.
ABOUT daybreak, when our sleep wvas at the highest, and the atmosphere the most chilly-the
twilight just emerging from the night-Doctor
Adolphus Blandy awoke from his dreams. Sleeping next to Mi. Butcut-and that gentleman, taking
good care of himself eve  in his sleep, having contrived to appropriate to himself, during the night,
the blanket that warmed the shoulders of Adolphus
-the doctor woke up at this hour yawning and
chilled. Contemplating for a while, the comfortable party around him, and particularly contemplating the exceedingly comfortable Buitcut, just at
this time emitting the longest drawn and most swelling notes of his horn; and also reflecting, somewhat bitterly may be, that all this was doubly
enjoyed by But, at the expense of liis own shivering discomfort-himself sacrificed to this too complete bodily satisfaction of the partner of his sleep
-and accustomed, no doubt, himself to his own
130 
THE BLACKWATER FOUND.
proper share of nocturnal indulgence: thus contemplating the repose around him, the devil of that
dog-in-the-manger quality of our nature, that will
sometimes get uppermost in the breasts of the best
of men, arose and took possession of his soul.
Aha, Mr. But!" said Galen to himself, "you
look mighty comfortable, indeed, with every bit of
my blanket wrapped about you -tucked in, too!
No wonder I couldn't pull it over me. I'll fix you,
Mr. Snug, for this, I think. If I'm shivering here,
you sha'n't sleep so comfortably there, and in my
blanket, too-confound you!"
So he deliberately arose, and set fire to the hemlock upon which we were sleeping, starting the
flame at a point nearest to the object of his particular malice. Having got his blaze under way, he
next picked up a hatchet, and finding a young firtree so placed that when cut down it would fall
with all its branches directly upon the sleepers, he
went to work to fell it, a great deal of especial delight beaming all the while from his eyes.
The hemlock being of the Pinus species, fire
takes hold of it rapidly, and soon the camp was in
a blaze. The flames spreading in close proximity
around Peter, crackling upon his ear, and flaring
in his eye, he awoke in great terror, and aroused the
camp with his outcries. Just at this critical moment, down came the doctor's young fir-tree, ttait
he had been all the while industriously hacking at,
131 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
down right over the camp, with all its sweeping
branches, trapping the party. Of course, there was
no little commotion among us. The fire was instantly put out, however, by a sort of instinct of
preservation common to mankind; and not yet
fairly awake, and a general impression prevailing
in the confusion that we were attacked by the wild
animals, we seized upon the rifles, hatchets, knives,
frying-pan, and but-ends of the burned wood-pile,
to sell our lives as dearly as possible.  Missing
Blandy, however, who had concealed himself behind a tree, the reality of the case began to break
upon us; and fairly now awake, we commented
variously upon the caricature alacrity that had been
exhibited by the expedition in defending itself from
the supposed assault of the beasts of the wilderness
-and took advantage of the occasion to get breakfast, and make an early start for the day.
The breakfast was a repetition of the last night's
supper, which being said-it is enough. Presently the sun reddened the eastern sky, and the hunters getting the direction they proposed to try their
fortune in, we set off through the yet dank and
dewy forest. Our way was broken and rugged,
up and down, through ravines that were deep
chasms, and over great fallen trees covered with
moss and wet as a sponge. Deer we saw frequently browsing about, and out here where perhaps they
had never seen a human being before, they would
132 
THE BLACKWATER FOUIND.
lift up their heads and for a while gaze at us as if
in wonder at what it all meant. Once or twice it
was proposed to shoot one of them, but this was
cried down as an act of wantonness, since we were
already burdened with as much as we could carry;
and, uncertain as to our being at all in the right direction, we were somewhat anxious and desirous to
hasten on our way, while yet fresh from the night's
rest.
There was one part of the wilderness which we
traversed this morning, where we came frequently
upon the traces of bear.   Sometimes we would
come upon the trunk of a dead tree, some hundred
feet long, and five or six feet in diameter, scattered
and raked about in all directions by the bears to
get at the worms to eat. Sometimes we would
find a cluster of trees, with the bark worn smooth,
which the hunters told us was a certain indication
that a family of these animals had been here raised,
and were no doubt now in some hollow tree or fastness not far off.
Thus we walked along for several hours, probably at no greater rate than a mile an hour, and in
some evident disheartenment-for we were not at
all so light of spirit as we might have been, and
would, had we felt more certain of our course.
Every now and then when we stopped to rest, the
conversation would take a debating turn, the subject discussed being generally the points of the
133 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
compass; one asserting that here was the north,
and another that it was in the very opposite direction. Peter's mind was always opposed to the
hunters'; if they pointed this way for north, he
was sure to point in the opposite, and maintain his
point of the compass with much vehement speech;
for he was by this time fully assured that the huniters had no knowledge of the country-in fact
knew nothing of wood-craft at all. These debates
were generally wound up by some vely direct remark of Triptolemus's, proclaiming it as his opinion,
that the hunters didn't know any more than he did,
where we were- when some one of the more discreet members of the party would have to intimate
to Powell and Conway, that Trip didn't mean as
much as he said, for fear they might possibly lose
their good temper, and leave the whole expedition
in the lurch, by deserting us upon the first favorable
opportunity: in which event it is altogether likely
we would have remained out in the Canaan long
enough to have resolved ourselves into our original
wild elements, or to have become a pile of bones.
But Powell and Conway were good-temipered men,
and set down to the proper account all our insinuations against their knowledge; and generally
retired to a little distance, and held some rational
parley with each other upon the matter in doubt.
At length we scrambled up a desperate hill, and
seating ourselves down to rest on its brow, we
134 
THE BLACKWATER FOUND.
heard Peter's voice back in the bushes, crying out
that hlie couldn't stand it any longer. Presently he
came in, out of breath, dragging himself along;
and sitting down on a log with an air of dogged
resolution, great misery in his countenance, he
swore he would go no further.
"Gentlemen, there must be an end put to this.
I can't stand it.  It's all intolerable-terrific!"
"Let him stay here, then," said the Signor.
"We'll go on, and find the falls. We can then
send one of the men back for him."
The enterprise was growing desperate, so we
moved along, determined to find water at all hazards, if we fell in our tracks. As we took up the
march again, each man gave Peter a parting volley.
"You had better struggle on, But, as long as
you can. If you should be left here, you will
never find the way in yourself."
"And bear it in mind, an expedition fitted out
for your recovery might not be more fortunate than
those to the North Pole."
"And, But, there is a possibility that government mightn't think you worth discovering."
"Mr. Grinnell couldn't be calculated on for you,
Peter."
"And if ever you are found, you might be a pile
of bones-remember the lost man!" said Trip.
"Farewell, Peter! I'm sorry to leave you, old
fellow."
135 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"Go to," said Peter, "with your blasted
nonsense. Since you wont stop and encamp, I'll
show you I can walk with any of you."
And Peter got up and followed after, not liking
the idea of remaining by himself in the forest; and
thinking rightly it would be rather hazardous to be
left behind by the party.
About an hour after this we were walking along
the broad top of a ridge, when one of the hunters
stopped, and thought he heard something like the
distant sound of water. Reanimated by the thought
we pricked up our ears, and went on in better heart.
But Botecote, who was really suffering a good deal,
now came to a dead halt, and refused to move. No
persuasion this time, nor any banter -no argument
addressed to his hopes, nor any intimidation of any
sort, that the inventive genius of the expedition
could suggest- was of the least avail. The case
this time was desperate; and we held a council of
war over him, the chief question being what was to
be done with his body.  Hle was too big to carrywhich was the suggestion of Triptolemus- so, of
course, that thought was dismissed; and, besides,
we had no idea of doing it: for we had still a lurking belief that he was playing'possum a little, in
order that he might accomplish an encampment.
Fortunately, however, and saving us from the desperate measure of leaving him here in the forest,
with a chance that we should not be able to find
136 
THE BLACKWATER FOUND.
him again, old Conway had explored the side of the
mountain, and just now returned, saying that he
had come to a wide belt of laurel, and that it was
his opinion the Blackwater ran through it.
"I knew it," said Peter.  "It's just as I said,
gentlemen. We've been enduring all this horrible
walking all the morning, when, by going more to
the left, we might have been in the Blackwater long
ago.  Walked to death for nothing!"
And now it was suggested that the laurel should
be explored, the fact of the water ascertained, and
Peter put into it, to make his way to the falls down
the middle of the stream. This proposition was assented to, as the best the case admitted of. Accordingly, going down to the edge of the laurel,
and seeing Peter safely deposited in the brakewith some appropriate encouragement of him as he
fought his way through-and hearing presently his
somewhat cheerful shout, announcing his safe arrival in the stream-we made our way back again
to the top of the mountain -Powell being certain
now that we were on the Blackwater, and that in
the course of a mile or so we would come upon slme
of its falls. Indeed, we were now convinced that
we heard the sound of them in the distance.
We pursued our march along the cone of the
ridge we were on for something better than a mile,
when, coming to a halt, we distinctly heard a waterfall below us. There was no doubt about it now:
137 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
and we descended the mountain-side with a shout.
We met the laurel about half-way down the mountain-and breaking into it, after the necessary fighting, we filed down, one by one, along a great firtree that had, happily for us, fallen there some ten
or twenty years before, and stepped out into the
Blackwater, on a broad surface of rock-the very
top itself of the falls we were seeking. In a few
minutes we fixed up our fishing-lines, and, dotted
along the edge of the fall which was about ten feet
high, middle of the day as it was when the fish
generally cease to bite, we took from the pool belowv some sixty trout, as fast as we could bait our
hooks for them. Satisfied with this taste of the
stream, and assured of our hopes of trout innumerable, we descended the falls, and looked about for a
suitable spot t2 construct a camp, and prepare our
dinner-for which, by this time, we were in no
little need, having eaten nothing since the early
twilight.
In the meantime, Mr. Butcut and Conway-fishing down the middle of the stream, and having
caught some thirty or forty more trout as they came
along-arrived at the falls, and thus the party were
once more together-boastful over all our toil and
suffering, and in high and happy spirits at the successful achievement of the enterprise out.
In the course of an hour a camp was constructed
by the banks of the stream, about a hundred yards
138
I
-I, 
THE BLACKWATER FOUND.
below the falls. A great blazing fire, such as we
had the night before, was soon under way; and lazily stretched about on the hemlock, or out upon
the large, moss-covered rocks that bordered the
stream- now frying and eating a pan of trout at
returning intervals, as a not quite sated appetite
prompted, or taking a little sleep, as nature inclined
-we  passed the hours until about four o'clock,
when it was deemed advisable to sally forth for the
purpose of laying in provision for our supper and
tile next morning's breakfast.
Leaving some of the party to perfect the works
at the camp, and make everything as comfortable
as possible for the night, we divided the rest into
two bands, and set out-one up the stream, the
other down- to make a somewhat extensive foray
upon the trout.
We will not give a minute account of the evening's fishing. We will state generally that the inroad was very successful; that we took the trout as
fast as we could bait for them; that in a walk of
about a mile up the stream, and two miles down,
and back, we at length arrived in camp with about
as many fish as we could well carry  and were
back all of us about an hour before dark, and all
rather indifferent about taking any more trout that
evening.
Immediately in firont of the camp, and about a
step out in the stream, is a large rock, in shape a
139 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
parallelogram, of some five feet by ten, rising above
the water about three feet, and of almost anl entirely
flat surface, except where at one end it is scooped
into a slight hollow, that will hold some two or three
buckets of water. This rock we have appropriated
as our kitchen; and upon it we have counted out
some five hundred trout, varying in size from six
to ten inches-some of them, the black trout, with
deep red spots-and some  salmon-colored, with
lighter red spots - all of them very beautiful, though
not, of course, of the largest size of the fish; for we
have yet to go down below the great falls of the
Blackwater to get at them.
All hands are now called into requisition to clean
all these fish; and it is not long before the whole
five hundred are prepared for the pan, and safely
put away in the hollow basin at the other end of the
kitchen, with a plenty of good fresh water around
them.
By the side of this rock, called the kitchen, a little farther out in the stream- an easy step taking
you from the top of the kitchen-rock to it-is another large sandstone rock, which is our parlor.
This last is about ten feet by twelve, and about
three feet also above the water, and perfectly fiat and
smooth on its surface. Describing thus our different apartments-all, like the statues of the heatlhen
goddesses in the "Groves of Blarney," standing  out
"naked in the open air"-perhaps it would afford
140 
THE BLACKWATER FOUND.
the reader some satisfaction to know our maniner
of using them.  It is very simple; as thus:
You will have the goodness to observe the movements of Mr. Butcut at this moment. This gentleman has a turn for good living, and consequently
he is something of an amateur cook. Indeed, it is
his pleasure so to indulge his genius this way, that
after hlie has himself eaten as much as he wants for
the time being, hlie takes great delight in exercising
his talents for the gratification of others.  He is
now about to cook a mess for the Prior, who, coming in the last from fishing, has now made himself
ready to enjoy his supper, having a very fine rage
upon him at present, and a particularly good capacity at all times to go upon. Butcut takes up the
frying-pan, and repairs with it to the kitchen. Placing it down by the fish, he selects from the clean
and beautiful hundreds in the basin about eight fine
fish-half of them black, half of them salmon-colored, all of them of the largest and fattest-these
being just as many as the bottom of the frying-pan
will properly hold. He takes them carefully, even
daintily, by the tail, between his fore-finger and
thumb, and places them accurately in the pan in
alternate heads and tails. A little salt and a little
black pepper are carefully sprinkled over them. He
next cuts a few thin slices of middling of bacon and
places them about in the pan. He is now ready for
the fire. So he goes~to the great blazinig pile, and
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THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
raking out from underneath it, away from  any
smoke, a quantity of the livest embers, he sets the
frying-pan evenly on these, and soon has the whole
delicate mess frying away in the most delightful
manner-the fat of the middling crackling and hissing a most delicious music to his ear-also to the
ear of the expectant Master. The accomplished
Peter takes great care that the fish shall not burn
in the least, so he removes the pan from the hot
embers every once in a while. Cooked sufficiently
now, as he supposes, on the one side, he proceeds to
the operation of turning them. This he does after the
manner of tossing a pancake. lie spreads a white
napkin upon the rock hard by, and giving the fry
142 
THE BLACKWATER FOUND.
ing-pan a toss of a very artful character, up go the
trout in the air, turning over and coming down into
the pan again precisely as the arch-cook desires it:
and all this is done without spilling even so much as
a drop of grease on the napkin. He now goes to the
fire again, and performs some more hocus-pocus, that
is all Hebrew-Greek t!-the ignorant, until the mess
is of a delicate brown hue-when he deems the
operation complete, and hands the frying-pan to
the Master with an air which seems to say, " A dish
fit to set before a king!"
The sharp-set Prior, in the meantimne, has prepared himself with a plate -of the real stone-ware
-that is, a flat, thin stone, of some twelve inches'
diameter, which he has selected from the bed of the
stream for his purpose; and emptying the trout upon his plate, with a chunk of bread on one end of it
and his big knife on the other, he hands the fryingpan to the next gentleman eagerly waiting for it,
and proceeds from the fireplace to the kitchen, and
from the kitchen to the parlor, where he sets himself down, with his legs crossed under him after the
fashion of the Grand Mufti, and, with his plate before him, dips in, and makes away with the spoils
of the Blackwater, in what in elegant life would be
considered a very short space of time, but which
excites no comment at all out here-it being conimon to all the men we have seen feed in the country.
The trout is such light food, that eight of them,
143 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
some ten inches long, will not make a supper for a
hearty man, leading this wilderness life; and accordingly the Master asks for another plateful. But
Mr. Butcut is by this time cooking another little
mess for himself, his appetite getting up again on
him: so the former gentleman has to wait for his
turn at the frying-pan, and try his hand for himself.
But enough.  This will suffice to show the habits
of our indoor life out here on the Blackwater-and
give also some very just idea of the different apartments of our dwelling, and of our felicitous manner
of using them.
144 
THE BLACKWATER VILLA.
CHAPTER XI.
THE BLACKWATER VILLA.
OUR Blackwater villa is placed in the most picturesque position imaginable - almost immediately
upon the banks of the most lovely of all amber
streams. It is protected on one side by masses of
gray sandstone -rock, dashed with spots of a darker
and lighter hue of gray, and occasionally a tinge of
red-these rocks coated over in places with moss
of various mingled colors-gray, blue, green, yellow, and purple, and soft and glossy as the richest
velvet. A noble overshadowing fir-tree rises up
from one corner of the villa, some hundred and
fifty feet, to the skies. The laurel grows thick and
matted back of it, in impenetrable masses; and the
glory of its flower, now just swelling into bloom,
gives an air of elegance -even of splendor, to the
embowered dwelling.  In front, the pure cool stream
leaps over the falls like a river of calf's-foot jelly
with a spray of whipped syllabub on top of it, and
tumbles wildly down through its rocky and obstructed bed, filling your imagination with the
7
14:5 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
poetry of unpolluted mountain waters- running
pure to your ideal, as the kingdom of heaven.
The valley of the Blackwater is not more than a
hundred yards wide, here where we have made our
home; and embowered on all sides, by mountains
of noble forms and various, it wears an air of entire
seclusion from the world we have deserted. No
intruding footsteps of man, we instinctively feel,
will here disturb our chosen, perfect solitude. All
customs, mnanners, modes of life, that we have heretofore known, are felt to be the remembrance of an
almost forgotten dream. The earth is entirely new
to our senses; and it is all our own-an entire and
absolutely perfect fee-simple estate of inheritance
in land and water, the deed recorded in the most
secret recesses of our own breasts. Therefore we
feel an unbounded liberty of thought, speech, and
action, and this is manifest in all we say and do;
and hence the reader will easily understand how
it is, that there is such entire freedom of remark
among us, one to another; how it is that we lay
about on the hemlock, now that night has set in
upon us, in such careless luxuriance of attitude;
how that the Prior is now stretched out with his feet
to the fire, and one of the hunters squatted down
confidingly between them; how the Signor goes on
all fours over our bodies, in getting to a snug place
in a corner of the camp, whither his fancy now
urges him; how that Mr. Butcut is flat upon his
146 
THE BLACKWATER VILLA.
back in the middle of the softest hemlock, his face
direct to the heavens, and his body spread out as
usual in his favorite position of a supple-jack distorted to the utmost; how TriptolemuLs's lame leg is
thrown over one of old Conway's shoulders, with a
view to the convenient drying of a wet stocking
before the fire; how it is that Adolphus, with a
blanket sweeping his shoulders, half sits, half reclines in among the roots of the great fir-tree,
wishing he could smoke a mild IHavana like the
rest of us -but compensating his soul for his inability, by indulging in visions of trout swimming
about in all beautiful imaginary waters- the daydream haunting the lights and shadows of his face,
like an angel of Paradise.
Lying about thus in all unrestrained felicity, we
told stories, and discoursed much learning of the
fisherman and the hunter, ancient and modern;
every now and then interweaving some very entertaining and free-sometimnes very slashing comment upon one another; all of which we regret it
is out of the question for us to impart to the reader,
because of its too great freedom, even for this outspoken age. Herein, therefore, that we may not
fall below the dignity of history having pitched
our chronicle up to the very highest standard-we
must exercise a becoming self-denial, hard as it is
to refirain.
The moon has now risen, and although a few
14-7 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
light fleecy clouds are gathering about here and
there above us, yet the goddess of the niight shines
down as silvery soft upon the Canaan, as she did
of old upon the garden of Verona, where Lorenzo
and Jessica vied with each other in chanting her
worship in such beautiful strains.  And, oh! most
beautiful reader-now absorbing this inspired
chapter, like Geraldine, when in her night-robes
loose, she lay reclined on couch of Ind, and poured
over Surrey's raptured line-how soothingly soft
its influence upon us here in the wild, you-you
can never altogether know-not even from this
rapt page!-how all at once, as if at another Prospero's wand, our mood was changed from that of
wanton, reckless mirth, and a gentle dreamy inspiration, all poetry and romance (all the finer for
our satisfaction in the regard of the trout-heavenly fish!)- came with the balmy south wind, and
took possession of our souls!   You-even  you,
blissful girl, upon whom the favoring gods have
bestowed the gift of genius, as well as of beautyyou, with your "finely-fibred frame," like Georgiana's, duchess of Devonshire, whom Coleridge
has so finely commemorated in his beautiful lines
addressed to that lady-even you can not ever
know this, unless, perchance, you would go with
me, and live a sylvan huntress by my side in the
Canaan, as did Ruth with her roving lover in the
wilds of Georgia! But God temper the wind to you,
148 
THE BLACKWATER VILLA.
shorn lamb, if you should ever trust yourself to my
freebooter's faith!- unless, indeed, a latent Helen
MacGreggor might be contained in your inches!
The moon and the soft south wind held us now
completely enthralled in their divine ravishment;
and in this mood we grew musical-the Signor
Andante at length tuning his voice to the beautiful
serenade of Henry Neele: perhaps the most exquisite song that has yet been composed by any of
our countrymen. It was thus Andante's voice,
murmured a music sweeter than the Blackwater in
our ears:
THE SERENADE.
"Wake, lady, wake-the midnight moon
Sails through the cloudless skies of June:
The stars gaze sweetly on the stream
Which, in the brightness of their beam,
One sheet of glory lies.
The glow-worm lends its little light,
And all that's beautiful and bright
Is shining on our world to-night,
Save thy bright eyes!
"Wake, lady, wake-the nightingale
Tells to the moon her love-lorn tale I
Now doth the brook that's hushed by day,
As through the vale she winds her way
In murmurs sweet rejoice;
The leaves by the soft night-wind stirred,
Are whispering many a gentle word,
And all earth's sweetest sounds are heard
Save thy sweet voice I
"Wake, lady, wake -thy lover waits,
Thy steed stands saddled at the gates I
149 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
Here is a garment rich and rare,
To wrap thee from the cold night air;
The appointed hour is flownDanger and doubt have vanished quite -
Our way before is clear and brightAnd all is ready for the flight Save thou alone!
"Wake, lady, wake-I have a wreath,
Thy broad, fair brow shall rise beneath:
I have a ring that must not shine
On any finger, love, but thine!
I've kept my plighted vow.
Beneath thy casement here I stand,
To lead thee by thy own white hand,
Far from this dull and captive strand —
But where art thou?"
The last notes of the serenade died away upon the
air; and not a sound disturbed the repose of the
wilderness, save the murmur of the waters, and the
whisperings of the trees. Each one of us, according
to his gifts, was enjoying a little world of romance
of his own-his soul lapped up in the creations of
his gently-inspired brain-thinking not at all of
the external world, but only of the ideal, conjured
up by his teeming, beguiling fancy; when all at
once a sudden blow sprung up fitfully out of the
stillness of the air, and threw the whole forest in
commotion. The fire at our feet shot up a startling
blaze, in among the branches of the piled-up fir
and hemlock hitherto untouched, and the crackling
flames, with their myriad spangles, rose high aloft
in spiral curls, almost up to the overhanging branches of the forest. Startled out of all the glory of
150 
THE BLACKWATER VILLA.
our visioned romance, we arose and looked out upon
the night. Clouds were gathering like mustering
bands everywhere in the heavens, and fast concen trating their forces.   The  stars disappeared by
squadrons from the just now blue and shining vault
of heaven; and the fair goddess o he night, queen
of the glittering realm-pale Dian, veiled her mild
glories altogether from our eyes. The southwestharbinger of summer storms, is a swift and impetuous power in the air, and wonderfully does he bestir
himself sometimes. So it was with him to-night;
for he sprang up suddenly upon us, without any
warning, and vented himself, for some cause or
other to us unknown, in outbursts of gusty bluster
and passion, that made us think of a whole deluge
of waters descending upon our devoted camp,
drowning out our fires and drenching our very
beds. But for the present there was more of bravado than performance in his high mightiness; and
the storm blast blew by. Still darkness was everywhere over the face of the earth, and the forest
sent forth a low wail, and the waters murmured a
sullen and monotonous song-falling upon the ear
more like a heavy sea breaking lazily upon a fiat
shore, than the light, airy, wild, sportive, notes of
the playful, impetuous, young streams of the mountains.
Each man now wrapped himself around more
closely in his blanket. No word was spoken, but
151 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
filled with the gloom of the night, we thought wistfully of our pleasant homes-dry and snug, and of
household security and comfort- books, lights,
music, fruits, flowers, jocund children-that is
those who had them-the sly flirtation by the light
of the chandelier
"And mama, too, blind to discover
The small white hand in mine"
-all that makes civilization tolerable; and we out
here, in the wilds of the Canaan, far away from the
knowledge of men-to say nothing of womenperhaps lost-and to all reasonable certainty a night
of wind and rain before us-bears, panthers, wolves,
owls, around us, and may be not so far off as we
might desire! The melancholy soughing of the
pines, too, above all the voices of the Canaan, had
entered into our hearts, and awakened our superstition, and no diversion of thought could dispossess
our souls of its influence.   The Master, indeed,
seemed rather to encourage it; for presently from
out a dark corner, where half in the glimmer of the
fire and half in the gloom of the hemlock he lay
propped away in a very Ossianly state of mind, in
a low, wild voice, all in harmony with the soughing sound of the firs and the sullen murmur of the
waters, he broke in upon the gloom of the camp,
crooning the beautiful ballad of Rossmore. It was
thus the mournful descant fell upon our ears-now
152 
THE BLACKWATER VILLA.
low as the lowest moan of the Pes-now rising,
now swelling, as the winds blew a louder wail:
ROS SMORE.
"The day was declining,
The dark night drew near;
The old lord grew sadder
And paler with fear.       -i
' Come hither, my daughter,
Come nearer - oh, near! -
It's the wind or the water
That sighs in my ear I'
"Not the wind nor the water
Now stirred the night air,
But a warning far sadder  The banshee was there I
Now rising, now swelling,
On the night wind it bore
One cadence- still telling,
'I want thee, Rossmore I'
"And then fast came his breath,
And more fixed grew his eye:
And the shadow of death
Told his hour was nigh I
Ere the dawn of that morning
The struggle was o'er,
For when thrice came the warning  A corpse was Rossmore!"
" Hush your horrible croaking!" said Alolphus,
when the Master's voice had come to a stand-still.
"Shut up, or I'll leave the room!  Isn't it all mis
erable enough already, but you must be keeping-us
from going tt sleep with ballads about dying men,
and such unearthly things?"
"Let's put him out!" exclaimed Peter.
7o
0
153 
THlE BLACKWATER CHRONIOLE.
"Turn him o  nto the wilderness, and let him
run with Ishmael and the other beasts!"
"Pitch him into the Blackwater!"
"And if there are any big falls below, let him go
down them!"
"Kill him!-curse him-kill him!"
"I have heard about such things, Mfr. Philips,"
said Powell-  like that about Rossmore.  Do you
believe in them?"
"Oh, certainly, Powell."
"  I once saw a spirit," said old Conway.
With a long tail on him?" asked Peter.
-w    "Well, I can't say but it had," continued the old
man with eagerness.  " Once-it was on a dark,
black -the blackest sort of a night- about the end
of one November-I was a-walking alone in the
woods-and I came close upon a-"
"Don't tell it -it was nothing but a bear or a
wolf!" exclaimed Butcut. "I wish I was at homine.
What a fool I was for coming here!"-and Peter
tried again to sleep.
The sobbing and sighing wind still kept up its sad
lament throughout the vale; and Andante to its ac    companiment again tuned his voice, and half-spoke,
half-sung the following strange old Scotch ballad:
THE TWA CORBIES.
"There were twa corbies sat on a tree,
Large and black as black might be;
And one the other'gan say,
' Where shall we go and dine to-day?
4t,>
154 
THE BLACKWATER VILLA.
Shall we dine by the wild salt s I
Shall we go dine'neath the greenWood-tree I'
"'As I sat on the deep sea-sand,
I saw a fair ship nigh at land:
I waved my wings, I bent my beak The ship sank, and I heard a shriek I
There they lie, one, two, and three I shall dine by the wild salt sea.'
"'Come, I will show you a sweeter sight A lonesome glen and a new-slain knight:
His blood yet on the grass is hot,
His sword half-drawl), his shafts unshot,
And no one kens that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and his lady-fair I
"' His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady's away with another mate,
So we shall make our dinner sweet;
Our dinner's sure, our feasting free -
Come and dine by the greenwood-tree.
"' Ye shall sit on his white hause-bane,
I will pick out his bonny blue e'en;
Ye'll take a tress of his yellow hair,
To theak your nest when it grows bare;
The gowden down on his young chin
Will do to sewe my young ones in.
"'Oh, cauld and bare will his bed be,
When winter storms sing in the tree!
At his head a turf, at his feet a stone He will sleep, nor hear the maiden's moan:
O'er his white hones the birds shall fly,
The wild deer bound, and foxes cry!"'
"This thing is getting intolerable!" exclaimed
Galen.
"It must be put an end to!" said But.
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THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
" Perhaps," observed Guy, "you might prefer to
hear the ballad of' Harold the Grim.'  That's a ballad, now, for such a night as this! I think I could
pitch it to the'Infernal Waltz' in' Robert the
I)evil.' Touch us the strain, Signor."
Here the Signor let himself loose upon the waltz,
and went on into the opera in general, joined at
length by Mr. Butcut and our whole orchestraPowell and Conway smoking their pipes all the
while in utter amazement at the effect produced.
This led to the performance of divers other pieces
from the other operas, in executing which, " Harold
the Grimn," and the wail of the forest, and the sad
murmur of the Blackwater, were all forgotten for
the time.
This spirited defiance of our condition did not
last. It was but a temporary rising up; and, tired
out, we laid ourselves down upon the hemlock, and
again gave way to the Ossianly influences of the
forest. The owls by this time began to hoot about
in alternate question and answer. " Whoo-whoowhoo-whoo are you'?" said one, and another answered with a hollow, short laugh-"Whoo-oooo-oo! -whoo-oo-oo-oo!" Certain now that the
owls were beginning to come about us-attracted,
no doubt, by the cooking of the camp-we expected,
the next thing, to hear of the approach of the bears
and panthers in our neighborhood. The smell of
the bacon and grease of our kitchen would undoubt
156 
THE BLACKWATER VILLA.
edly bring these gentlemen around us sometime in
the night; it might be, indeed, that our own meat
would draw them: and in the event of its turning
out a night of rain, why then our fire might be
drenched out, and there would be nothing to keep
the animals from coming in upon us.
In the meantime, however, these thoughts naturally arising in the mind, Triptolemus lifted up his
voice, and of his own accord-in a somewhat discordant tone, in keeping with the rude character of
the rhythm- chanted the ditty of
BANGUM AND THE WILD-BOAR.
"There is a wild-boar in the wood,
Killum-coo, Con!
There is a wild-boar in the wood,
He'll eat your meat and drink your blood -
Cut him down I
Cut him down I
"Bangum vowed that he would ride,
Killum-coo, Con!
Bangum vowed that he would ride,
With sword and pistol by his side,
Cut him down!
Cut him down!
"He tracked the wild-boar to his den,
Killum-coo, Con I
He tracked the wild-boar to his den,
And there he saw the bones of ten thousand men,
Cut him down I
Cut him down!
"They fought three hours by the day,
Killum-coo, Con!
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THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
They fought three hours by the day,
Till at last the wild-boar -he ran away,
Cut him down I
Cut him down!"
This delightful ballad of "Bangum and the Boar"'
Trip sang all to himself, for by this time we were
about getting to sleep. Whether this version is a
correct one, Heaven only knows! But we give it
here as Trip sang it, and the probability therefore
is that it is a good deal mixed up. Be this as it
may, it is a very remarkable lyric, and worthy of
being preserved in this chronicle as a specimen of
our earlier and ruder song.
About this time some drops of rain fell down
heavily upon the leaves of the forest-premonitory
of what was in store for us; and in five minutes
more, we, our camp, and everything around, were
drenched. As it seemed to be a rather settled,
steady pouring down of the clouds, without any
wind or noise of any sort about it-and as there
was no help for it, the hunters secured the fire as
well as they could (covering it over partially with
some pieces of hemlock-bark); when, rooting ourselves about among each other like a litter of pigs
in a barnyard, we soon fell asleep, in defiance of
the pitiless elements.
158 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
CHAPTER XII.
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
UNDISTURBED by any of the wild beasts, we slept
through the rain until broad daylight, when we
crawled out of our litter, and started the nearlyextinguished fire. The rain had ceased to fall sometime ill the night; but the mist covered the mountains and enveloped the river; the forest was everywhere dripping wet, and for a while it was rather
cheerless as we sat drooping before the slow fire.
Soon, however, the flames took hold of the wood,
and, as the blaze spread, our spirits revived.
The worst possible thing for a man to do, under
any circumstances, is to sit down and droop: the
very best, all the philosophers agree, is to go to
work. So we picked up the hatchets and axe, and
soon had a wagon-load of young hemlocks and firs
upon the fire, making a flame that dried the atmosphere all around our villa. In doing this, it was
discovered that we were as supple of joint and
limb as if we had slept in moonshine; and when
Triptolemus looked for his cold (which he had
brought with him into the country), and couldn't
159 
160       THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
find it-and Mr. Butcut felt himself lighter and
freer in body than he had done since he started -
it would have puzzled any one, coming fresh among
us, to believe that we had slept out all night in the
open air, in a drenching rain.
After breakfast, however, going beyond the encampment, and seeing everything still wet and uncomfortable, the hearts of some of the party began
to fail them-and it was proposed that we should
strike our camp for home.
"What! and not explore the stream, after coming out all the way here for the purpose!-Nonot so," said the artist, who wished to sketch the
falls.
"Not so," repeated the Master, who wished to
take some of the larger trout of the Blackwater.
"And you mean, then, to keep us out here another
night in the rain!'" exclaimed Peter. "I won't submit to it!"
"I should rather think we have had enough of
it," said Galen-the idea of another night of rain
destroying his romance a little.
"What do you say, Trip?  Are you satisfied?"
"Ugh- uh!" replied Trip; but whether he meant
yes or no, was only to be got at from his countenance-which was rather down.
"It will read badly in our annals, gentlemen,"
observed the Master, "to go back without exploring the falls. Besides, I want to get in among the 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
large fish. We have caught nothing to call a trout
yet!"
"We have seen all the falls we are going to see,"
said Peter.
"What's your opinion as to that, Powell?"
"There are certainly larger falls, gentlemen, somewhere down below us. These couldn't make all the
roar we have heard out here- could they, Conaway?"
"That's onpossible," replied Conway.
"Gentlemen, I am really suffering very much out
here-this climate don't agree with me!" said Peter, pathetically.
"You look ill, But!"
Peter smiled faintly at this. It was the first trace
of anything of the kind that had illumined his countenance since day dawned.
The reader will perceive, from the above conversation - which will serve as a sample of a very considerable discussion, involving the breaking up of
the expedition at this point-that some of us had
enough of the wilderness. Although we were all
perfectly unharmed by the exposure of the last
night, yet the recollection of it affected the mind
unpleasantly, and suggested visions of the comfort
of Towers's hostel, which made against any very
strong wish to remain out another night-such
night in our Blackwater villa. But the secret of
this desire to leave was attributable to the fact that
161 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
the sun had not yet risen high enough to clear the
hilltops, and disperse the mists and fogs of the
morning, which after such a night of rain, had enveloped everywhere the beautiful world around.
Let but the sun shine awhile, and the glory of the
rhododendron- the beauty of light and shadethe splendor of the living green of the wild-the
sheen and the sparkle of the waters-the sumnmermorning breeze-the song of the birds-all the
glories of the month of June in the mountains-all
these must enter into the heart, and bring gladness
to despair itself. As it was, the Master and the
Signor rather had But, and Galen, and Trip, in their
power; for the two hunters, it was very evident,
were keen-set for the exploration of the falls. No
one up here knew anything about these falls, other
than the conjecture of their existence: at any rate,
there was no known man who had seen them. The
pride of discovery, therefore, operated on the hunters; and it was apparent that all Andante and the
Master had to do, was to say the word, and they
couldn't be bribed to go back. However, the sun
began to shine out about this time, breaking through
the mists of the valley; and it was agreed that the
exploring party should go out, while the others
would amuse themselves fishing or shooting inll the
neighborhood of the camp, and, if they tired of that,
occupy themselves in ornamenting our villa, and in
improving its sleeping-apartment with a roof-so
162 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
that, in case we abode here another night, we might
be able to sleep without being drenched with the
rain.
In accordance with this arrangement, the Master
and the artist, with Powell and Conway, prepared
themselves for the day, and set out on their enterprise of discovery. The heavens seemed to favor
us, for we had scarce yet filed into the stream, when
the sun broke through the vapor of the valley and
lit up the windings of the little river, until it shone
all resplendent of gold, and amber, and snow-white
foam. It was as if some celestial light had suddenly illumined the dripping and cheerless Canaan,
and we went
"On our way attended
By the vision splendid."
Some short distance below the camp, when in the
middle of a small, grassy island, we saw a large doe
standing about fifty yards below us, among a group
of rocks in the middle of the stream, where she was
browsing upon the moss. Presently she saw us,
and raised her head, standing motionless and lost
in wonder-irresolute as Ariadne when she was
about to fly. 
"She has fawns," whispered Powell, "back in
the laurel, and has left them for a while, to come
down into the river to drink, and eat the moss upon
the rocks."
"Don't stir," whispered Conway.  "Keep still as
163 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
you can, till I go back to the camp and get my rifle.
It's an elegant shot!"
The Master clapped his hands, and the deer bounded in about two leaps to the bank of the river, and
disappeared- vanished.
" No, Conway," said the Master, "you wouldn't
kill that beautiful creature, in cold blood!"
"We hunters," replied the old forester, in some
amazement, "don't think about their beauty, Mr.
Philips; it's their meat we look at."
"It's as well not to have shot it, Conaway," said
Powell.  "She has fawns over there in the laurel."
"]How do you know that?" asked the Signor.
"Why, come down to the place, and I'll show
you."
We moved down to the rocks and halted.  "You
see," said Powell, "here are the tracks of that deer
coming into the water, and here they are going out.
That shows, you see, that she went out the same
way she came in."
" Yes.",
"You observed she turned round to jump out of
the river."
" Yes."
"Well, we hiinters reason from this, that she
must have fawns over here in the laurel, or she
would have taken out on the other side- which
was natural, as she was standing with her head that
way.  What made her turn to get out the same way
164 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
she came in? Something turned her; and as it is
about the time now they have their fawns, I say it
was to get back to them."
"The reasoning's good," replied the Signor.
" I am satisfied," observed the Master, "and have
learned a little more of the lore of the forest than I
knew before."
"If it was worth while," said Powell, " I would
go into the laurel and get the fawns for you. But
if there is anything I don't like, it is laurel."
Of course, we had no idea of encumbering ourselves with the fawns; so we pursued our way down
the stream-now up to our knees in the water
now stooping under some great tree that had fallen
across the stream- again along the banks, as they
presented a better footway —now through the little
meadows of luxuriant grass that skirted the shores
of the stream-over islands of great rocks - breaking into the laurel to get round some hanging cliffs
-sometimes stepping on a slippery stone, and going down soused all over in the water-until at
length, some two miles below our camp, we came
to the second falls.  These aretwelve feet high- a
clear pitch, and in the shape of a horseshoe. The
pool below them looked deep and dark, spotted with
flakes of white foam and bubbles, and no doubt
contained some large-sized trout. We did not stop,
however, to test it, but proceeded on our course.
The sun by this time had risen high above the
165 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
mountains, and was shining down upon the Canaan
with all his refulgence. The river was ever turning
ill its course, and every few moments some new
charm of scenery was given to our view. The atmosphere was soft and pleasantly warm, and the
breeze gently fanned the trees. The wilderness was
rich everywhere with hues of all dyes, and the banks
of the river gleamed for miles with the flowers of
the rhododendron. A scene of more enchantment
it would be difficult to imagine. The forest with its
hues of all shades of green - the river of delicate
amber, filled with flakes of snow-white foam -and
the splendor of the rhododendron everywhere in your
eye.  Picture all this in the mind -then remember
that you were far beyond the limits of the world
you had known-anld say, was it of heaven, or was
it of earth!
Such pure, unalloyed charm of soul as we felt
that morning, it would be worth any hardship to
enjoy. No disturbing thought had any place in
the mind. It seemed that we had entered into a
new existence, that was one of some land of vision.
As for the world we had left, it was as unknown to
our thoughts as if we had never heard of it; it was
absolutely lapsed from all memory, and nothing but
the beauty and the bliss of the untrodden Canaan
entered into our hearts.
As for myself- without pretending to speak at
all for the Master, or the Signor, or the two hunters
166 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
-I ami certain I had no idea of having ever been
born of woman-no idea of having ever known a
passion of mortal joy or sorrow: I was some creation of an undiscovered paradise (hitherto undreamed
of even) altogether, for those few hours of a new
soul.  And it seems tome now, when I revert my
thoughts to that morning's exploration of the Blackwater, that all the divinities of old fable must have
had their dwelling-place out there; that surely Pan
and Faunus dwelt in those wilds; that Diana lived
there, and Latmos, on whose  top  she nightly
kissed the boy Endymion, was the mountain that
bordered the Blackwater; that Venilus- she of the
sea -- Anadyomene, sometimes left the sea-foam and
reposed her charms in the amber flow of the river;
that Diana the huntress, with all her attendant
nymphs, pursued those beautiful deer I saw; that
the naiads dwelt in the streams, and the sylphs lived
in the air, and the dryads and hamadryads in the
woods around; that Egeria had her grotto nowhere
else but in the Canaan-all the beautiful creations
of old poesy, the spirits or gods that now
"No longer live in the faith of reason,"all   were around me in the unknown wild
"The intelligible forms of ancient poets,
The fair humanities of old religion,
The power, the beauty, and the majesty,
That had their haunts in dale or piny mountain,
Or forest by slow stream, or pebbly spring,
Or chasms and watery depths."
167 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
- Sometimes the fancy has possessed me that I
saw Undinie sitting in all her beauty by the foam
of the little Niagara, the most beautiful of all the
falls. Sometimes, too, I have seen Bonny Kilmeney - who was
" As pure as pure could be"
sleeping on the purple and gold-cushioned rocks,
even as the Shepherd Poet has so exquisitely created her-her bosom heaped with flowers, and lovely beings of the spirit world infusing their thoughts
of heaven into her spotless soul-her
"Joup of the lilly sheen,
Her bonny snood of the birk sac green,
And those roses, the fairest that ever were seen."
All these images, and many more innumerable, of
the creations of the genius of mankind, are associated in my mind, henceforth and for ever, with
the Blackwater; and although I am fully aware
that in here giving expression to these fancies, I
run some little risk of stamping this historic narrative with the character of fiction, yet the judicious
reader will observe that this chronicle was intended
in its inception to be an impress of the body and
soul of the expedition-the motions and affections
of the mind were to be recorded, as well as the motions and affections of the body- therefore he will
see that it is all in keeping with the high aim of
our undertaking. In accordance, then, with this
168 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
just view of things, I have no hesitation in writing
it down here, that the whole expedition felt themselves in a paradise all the morning; and I will
take this occasion to observe in regard to myself
especially, that I know something of the joys of
this world -have had my reasonable share, and
more too, of the joy that comes of passion-but
that perfect bliss of the soul-that feeling of entire
happiness, which has no taint of our mortal lot in it
which is beatific, such as an angel ever lives in,
I never had any distinct idea of-never anything
but a glimmering, vague, mystified conjecture of,
until I feit the heaven of that morning down the
exquisite stream.
The reader no doubt is a little startled at this
apparent extravagance, but let him restrain himself. It is all true, every word of it —-as near as
any felicities of the English language will convey a
meaning; and although he may deem the brain of
the chronicler of the expedition a little turned (by
thunder may be), yet I call confidently upon Mr.
Butcut, upon Adolphus, upon the Master of St.
Philip's, upon Triptolemus Todd, Esq., upon the
Signor, and the two hunters, to say if it does not
but poorly convey to their minds the feelings they
experienced. Why, Mr. Butcut, forgetful of all
his sufferings, grows enthusiastic when he thinks
of the Blackwater, even at this day; and Trip
chuckles from ear to ear, with a joyous ugh- uh!
8
169 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
if you but point your finger in the direction of the
Alleganies!
While we have stopped to dilate a little on the
heavenly delights of the Canaan, the exploring expedition did not stop, but wound its way down the
bed of the stream; and presently turning a rocky
promontory that jutted the mountain side, the
Blackwater, some hundred yards ahead, seemed to
have disappeared entirely from the face of the
earth, leaving nothing visible  down the chasm
through which it vanished, but the tops of fir-trees
and hemlocks —and there stood on the perilous
edge of a foaming precipice, on a broad -rock high
above the flood, the Signor Anldante (who had gone
a-head), demeaning himself like one who had lost
his senses, his~arms stretched out wide before him,
and at the top of his voice (which couldn't be
heard for the roar and tumult around him), pouring
forth certain extravagant and very excited utterances; all that could be made out of which, as the
rest drew close to his side, was something or other
about
-   "The cataract of Lodore
Pealing its orisons,"
and other fragments of sublime madness about cataracts and waterfalls, to be found at large in the
writings of the higher bards.
Not stopping at all to benefit by the poetic and
otherwise inspired outpouring of the wild and appa
110 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
rently maddened artist, thus venting himself to the
admiring rocks and mountains and tumbling waters
around, the expedition stepped out upon the furthest verge and very pinnacle of the foaming battlements, and gazed upon the sight, so wondrous
and so wild, thus presented to their astonished
eyes.
No wonder that the Signor demeaned himself
with so wild a joy: for
"All of wonderful and wild,
Had rapture for the artist child;"
and perhaps in all this broad land of ours, whose
wonders are not yet half revealed, no scene more
beautifully grand ever broke on the eye of poet or
painter, historian or forester. The Blackwater here
evidently breaks its way sheer down through one
of the ribs of the backbone of the Alleganies. The
chasm through which the river forces itself thus
headlong tumultuous down, is just wide enough to
contain the actual breadth of the stream.   On
either side, the mountains rise up, almost a perpendicular ascent, to the height of some six hundred
feet. They are covered down their sides, to the
very edge of the river, with the noblest of firs and
hemlocks, and as far as the eye can see, with the
laurel in all its most luxuriant growth-befitting
undergrowth to such noble growth of forest, where
every here and there some more towering and vast
Balsam fir, shows his grand head, like
171
I
.I 
'THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"Caractacus in act to rally his host."
From the brink of the falls, where we now stand,
it is a clear pitch of some forty feet. Below, the
water is received in a large bowl of some fifteen or
twenty feet in depth, and some sixty or eighty feet
across. Beyond this, the stream runs narrow for a
short distance, bound in by huge masses of rock
-some of them cubes of twenty feet - then pitches
down another fall of some thirty feet of shelving
descent-then on down among other great rocks,
laying about in every variety of shape and size - all
the time falling by leaps of more or less descent,
until it comes to something like its usual level of
running before it begins the pitch down the mountain. This level of the stream, however, is but
"The torrent's smoothness ere it dash below;"
for it leads you to a second large fall, a clear pitch
again of some forty feet. From the top of this you
look down some two hundred feet more of such
shelving falls and leaping descent, as we have described above, until you come again to another
short level of tihe stream. This, in its turn, is the
approach to another large fall.  Hlere the river
makes a clear leap again of about some thirty
feet, into another deep basin; and looking on
below you, you see some two hundred feet or
more of like shelving falls and rapid rush-down of
the stream, as followed upon the other large falls.
172 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
Getting down below all these, the river having
now tumbled headlong down some six hundred
feet, more or less, in somewhere about a mile, it
makes a bend in its course, along the base of the
mountain to the left, and mingles its amber waters
with the darker flow of the Cheat: the Cheat some
three times the size of the Blackwater; and roaring
down between mountains (twelve or fifteen hundred feet sheer up above us), through, not a valley, but a rocky and savage chasm, scarcely wide
enough to hold the river.
It will be perceived from this description, that
the falls of the Blackwater must be extremely
grand, picturesque, and wild, in their character. A
stream of good size, that breaks down through one
of the bold Allegany mounltains- a fall in the
whole, of some six hundred feet, must affect the
mind grandly. If, instead of a beautiful little river
of some fifty feet in breadth, running some two or
three feet deep in the main, it were as large as the
Cheat, the predominating sense of the beautiful
that now belongs to it, would be lost in the terror
it would inspire. As it is, let the floods get out in
the mountains-let the snows of winter linger on in
the Alleganies into the spring; and all at once let
the south wind blow, and the sun returning higher
up this way, pour down his rays; then would you
behold such a mad rush and tumult of waters, roaring down the Alleganies, as would strike such
lT3 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
awe into your soul, as not even Niagara, inA all
his diffused vastness, could impress you with. But,
then, it would be no longer the exquisite Blackwater, filling the mind with so wondrous and wild
a sense of beauty, that now makes it a picture, such
as no son of genius, who had once hung it up in the
galleries of his brain, would ever take down.
But enough of comment. We will leave the falls
to the imagination of the reader, who can now work
up for himself, from the sketch we have given, such
a picture as will best please him; and go on to
relate some little incidents of fishing, which we
hope will impart some pleasure.
If we remember aright, we left the expedition
standing on the brow of the first fall, in some considerable tumult of soul at the grand sight that had
broken so suddenly and unexpectedly upon them;
and the artist -the Signor Andante, in a frenzy
of inspiration -
"On a rock, whose haughty brow
Frowns o'er Blackwater's foaming flood,
Robed in the ragged garb he wore,
With flashing eyes the artist stood;"
now repeating wildly to the Blackwater flood, the
fiery song which the last of the bards uttered over
"Old Conway's" (I don't mean Conway the man,
but the, river).
We are happy, however, in being able to inform
all who take any interest in the artist, that he did
174 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
not conclude his rant in the grand manner of the
last of the bards'; who     "Spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height,
Deep in the roaring tide, he plunged to endless night l"
No, Andante, backed himself very carefully out from
the edge of the torrent; and, very much in accordance with our preconceived estimate of him as a
man of sense, followed the hunters into the hanging side of the mountain, where he, like the rest of
us, letting himself down by clinging to the branches
of laurel, and sliding on his back down the steep
rocks, with the aid of an occasional precarious foothold, at length succeeded in getting below the cataract.
We now prepared ourselves for the trout. It was
by this time, near the middle of the day, too late,
as we supposed, for any very good fishing; for the
large fish generally by this time lie about in the
bed of the streams, and are indifferent to the lure
of the bait. Notwithstanding this, we had scarcely
thrown our lines into the deep water before us,
before out bait was seized.  The Master drew up
the first fish. He had thrown in just at the edge of
the foam and spray of the fall, and a quick, bold
pull swept his line through the foam. On the
instant, with a switch of his rod sidewise, then
throwing it up aloft, he landed, between his thighs
(for it was water all around him) a fine vigorous
trout, breaking off about two feet of the switch-end
175 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
of his maple rod. This trout was a foot long, and
some three inches deep behind the shoulders. Presently Powell drew out another of about the same
size. Theni the artist brought out a fine one from
the bowl. And Conway, who by this time had
picked up the best stick he could find, and tied a
short bit of sea-weed to it-squatting down on
his haunches, on a mossy rock, and looking the
picture of some old sleepy satyr of the woods, pulled
out his large fish without a word to anybody. It
was great work; and the excitement intense. In
the course of a quarter of an hour we had caught,
among all of us, some twenty fine fish - some of
them thirteen inches long-and this with no other
bait than the common red worm. Indeed, if to take
a quantity of trout be your only object, so full is the
stream of them, and so ravenous are they, that
with any sort of a line, and anything of a hook- a
pin-hook if you can get no other-you may take as
many as you can carry. But our tackle was good,
and with the exception of a regular rod (which it
would have been troublesome to have brought
along upon so difficult an enterprise) we were
reasonably well provided for the sport.  If the
reader will bear it in mind, that the Blackwater
never in all probability had a line thrown in it
before, he need wonder at nothing we can tell him
about the quantity of trout it contains, or the greediness with which they bite at any sort of bait.
176 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
As our purpose to-day was rather to explore the
falls than fish, we drew up our lines and proceeded
down the torrent.  By dint of much scrambling,
and crawling, climbing, leaping, hanging, and every
other sort of means you can think of, of getting
yourself along-sometimes swept down by the
strength of the current, and lodged in some side
eddy or pool-driving out the trout, and getting
up and shaking yourself, with some two or three
craw-fish, about the size of your hand, sticking to
your clothes-we made our way down below the
second of the large falls. Hiere we fished again for
a while, and caught some fifty more trout; some
of us baiting our hooks with the gullets of the fish,
cut out for that purpose; and some with the red
fins, which we would cut off and use, by way of
substitute for the fly, and which was found to answer the purpose as well as anything else.
Satisfied with the trial of the stream here, we
drew up, and proceeded down our rugged way.
Presently, missing the artist, who had gone ahead
of us, we were under some apprehension that lhe
had fallen down some of the rocks, and ended his
mortal career, here and elsewhere- especially,
when, after repeated calls, we could hear no answer
from him. Moving down the stream, therefore,
somewhat rapidly, we came upon a wide rock,
over which the water lay about in pools; and
where we saw scattered about, high and dry, a
8*
17,T 
THE BLACKWATER (CHRONICLE.
goodly number of large trout, dying and dead. Below this rock the Signor had let himself down some
ten feet; and standing on a flat ledge, enveloped in
spray from the water flowing down on either side of
him, he was intently engaged in hauling out from
a pool before him, the fine trout we saw around
about as fast as he could bait his hook.  He told
Lius he had been here only some fifteen minutes;
and when he ascended, without a dry shred upon
him, from the watery grotto wherein he had enshrined himself, he gathered up some sixteen fish of
the largest size we had taken that day.
Leaving our rods at this point, we went on as
rapidly as we could make our way, down the falls,
and finished our exploration to the mouth of the
Blackwater. Here, sitting down to rest, we summed up our review of the falls-in which we settled down to the estimate above given, that the
leap-down of the Blackwater must be some six hundred feet, in somewhere about a mile.  The reader
will understand that this estimate is made, not by
guesswork, but upon some certain data; for we
measured all the larger falls. It will be perceived,
however, that we can not be far wrong in our computation, when we make the statement, that from
the top of each of the la,rger falls, you see, at the distance of a few hundred yards down before you, the
tops of fir-trees (their bodies not visible) peering up
like bushes; and when you get down loo them, you
178 
THE FALLS OF THE BLACKWATER.
find they are great trees of some hundred feet or
more in height. Standing upon the top bf the first
large fall, you look down upon some hundred and
fifty feet or more, of the leap-down of the river
going down, then, to this point, you make a turn
for some distance, and presently come upon the
next large fall-from the top of which you look
down upon about the same descent-and so on to
the third. But enough. Let us now go back.
About half way up the falls athunder-storm passed
over us; and the reverberation down the chasm was
exceedingly grand.   Stopping under a hanging
rock that afforded us shelter from the storm, we
saw in the wet sand the footprints of otter, and
other evidences of their inhabiting the stream.
Presently there came a volleyed discharge of the
heaven's cannon; and as the roar muttered itself
away throughout the refts of the mountains, the
sun broke out, and we proceeded on our way up
the steep ascent-a rainbow over-arching the waterfalls, and the spray everywhere golden with
sunbeams. At length, reaching the top of the
grand chasm, and standing again on the brink of
the impending rocks where we first hailed so rapturously, the leap-down of the river-we took a
last look of the wild scene and went on our way to
the camp.
Somewhere about five o'clock in the evening we
came in, and depositing our spoils of the stream
179
0 
THE 3LACKWATER CHRONICLE.
about a hundred and fifty fine trout; we eat and
recounted our adventures alternately, until we and
our audience grew tired and fell asleep; the Prior
m    urmuring as he went off, the noble lines of Byron
,, The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold,"the Assyrian to his imagination being the dark and
rushing Cheat, and the CoAort8 g7eamin,  in purple
and gold, the golden Blackwater and the other glittering streams of the Canaan.
180
10 
HlOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
CHAPTER XIII.
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THIE CANAAN - AND IN SPITE
OF OUR TEETH.
MORNING has dawned again upon the camp, and
with it we arose to prepare for our homeward
march. We took our last bath in the Blackwater,
and at breakfast eat up all that remained of our
provisions.   Some of us, sated with the trout,
breakfasted entirely upon the bacon that was left.
In our hardy and rough life, the fish had ceased
to be food to us, and a beefsteak would have been
181
-l,.t- _I DI, " 
TIIE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
the greatest of luxuries. Hlad we been prepared
to remain out longer, it will be seen, therefore, that
we would have taken to killing the deer for our
table-which we only did not do heretofore, because it seemed like wanton butchery to slay the
beautiful "foresters," when we had the finest of
all fish that swim in such abundance.  Everything,
however, was now gone-the ham and middling
eaten, the last of the coffee drank-and not a
crumb of bread remained. There were about three
hundred trout, cleaned and ready for use, in our
kitchen, but we turned up our noses at them. Out
of these, Conway selected some of the finest, and
making a basket of the bark of the fir-tree, packed
them up to take home, no one else choosing to be
troubled with them: all the rest we left on the rock
- a feast for the otters, or whatever other of the
wild inhabitants of the Canaan, who were fond of
fish.
With our wallets strapped on our shoulders, and
all equipped for the march, we waited the rising of
the sun, to marshal us the way we should go; for
having no compass along, the god of day was our
only guide, preserver, and friend. Presently, the
sun arose, "blushing discontented" at the clouds
around, and Powell, with his rifle in one hand and
the frying-pan in the other, started up from his
seat, followed first by Conway, then by all of usand thus we broke our way into the laurel, making
182 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
straight up the mountain, that rose high above us,
dark and dense with all the green leaves of summer.
Reaching the top of the ridge, the hunters held
some counsel as to their course; and telling us,
confidently, that they would take us to the glade
on the Potomac, where we had left our horses, by
two o'clock, we strode through the wild in high
spirits-even Peter vaunting himself very much,
and proclaiming the glorious feelings of a life in
the woods. With much jest, and a good deal of
extravagant utterance of one sort and anothersome occasional practical remark in regard to the
wealth of land and water around us- we went
careeringly on our way, like a band of Indians
single file on a war-path, if path that can be called
where path there was none.
In about two hours of such walking, a damper
was put on our spirits by the announcement of
gathering clouds. Presently down came the rain;
and a little tired already with the climbing up
and down the mountains, and the rough and
tumble of it all-the tumble done in the main
by Trip, who fell along as was his wont- we
stopped at length under a tree, until the shower,
as we supposed it, would pass by. We sat here for
some time, but the forest being by this time entirely
wet - which of course would wet us in walking
through it -we concluded that we might as well
183 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
take the rain in one shape as another, and proceed
on our way. But here at once a question arose as
to where the way was, for we had lost the sun to
guide us. A right sharp debate took place, but
Powell insisting upon a certain direction, off we
started -Peter beginning to show a little gloom
of countenance, and none of us a face of the brightest. Hlowever, on we went, forcing a spirit we did
not entirely feel, and after about two hours more
of hard walking, all wet and very well blown, we
came to a halt at an exclamation made by Galen,
the purport of which was, that a bent tree just before us, was the very same bent tree that we had
stopped under two hours ago. This was a very
discomforting remark to have thrust upon us, and
was controverted by the whole party. And there
was great difficulty in deciding the matter, for the
wilderness is so covered everywhere with moss, and
so entirely trackless, and there are so many places
that look alike, and so many trees bent over by the
storms all about, that the fact of our having been
here two hours before was about being decided in
the negative (the wish being father to the conclusion), when the doctor discovered a cut in the side
of a tree, where he had stuck his hatchet when he
was here before.
This settled the question. It was clear we had been
walking the last two hours in a circle, and had
come back to the point we started from. Clouds
184 
HOW WE GOT OUIT OF THE CA_AAN.
now gathered over the countenance of the expedition, about as dark as those over the face of the
heavens; and each one manifested himself according to his temper under adversities-defied or bemoaned his fate. A great disputation was immediately entered upon, as to where the north was.
Even Powell and Conway differed entirely. Peter
vehemently urged it was here-Triptolemus contended it was there. The Signor tried to make it
out by the dark side of the trees; but, in the gloom
of the day, they were on all sides dark. Galen
twisted his neck to no purpose, looking up for a
light spot in the clouds by which to place the sun.
The Prior said and did nothing, but looked as if he
had come to the conclusion that the Canaan had no
north.
"There is nothing clear about the whole matter," exclaimed Peter, gloomily, " but that we are
lost!"
"That's clear as preaching," answered Trip.
" What an infernal idiot I was to get into this
scrape!" continued Peter.  "A man with a family
-living in ease and comfort, enjoying the society
of my friends- I may say surrounded by everything a man ought to desire-in fact, more too!But such is man! —to come out here into this
crooked wilderness, where there is nothing straight
-no paths -nothing leading anywhere!'Lostyes, undoubtedly lost, and with a fine chance of
185 
THE BLACKWATER OHRONIOLE.
being either starved or walked to death-both, I
dare say!"
"Or eaten by the bears," said Trip.
"Any bear that attempts that game on me," rejoined Peter, " would play into my hand."
"Gentlemen," observed the Signor, "there is
nothing gained by staying here, that I can see. I
propose that Conway take the lead, as he and
Powell differ about the course. Let's try his luck,
and see what will come of it."
"Agreed," said Powell; "let Conaway tiy it: but
you are going the wrong way.  Here, more to the
left, I say, we will come upon the horses. Here's
the north, and here's northeast-and northeast is
our course."
" What do you judge from, Powell?  The skies
are all clouds; you can't judge by the moss, and
the weather-stains on the trees-for they are on all
sides alike."
" Well, I can't say rightly what I judge from.
But there is something in the shape of the hillsthe way they slope-and the looks of the country,
that makes me say here's the northeast; and I believe in an hour or two we would come right down
on our horses."
Powell was evidently very much mortified at his
having walked us round in a circle for the last two
hours. But he accounted for it satisfactorily enough,
by reminding us that in sitting down here before,
186 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
and shifting our position under the trees to avoid
the rain, we had unconsciously lost sight of the
direction we were on; and starting off in the confusion of a disputation upon the vexed question as
to where the sun was, we had, without consideration, taken the direction we happened to be facing
at the time. An intelligent man, like Powell, takes
great pride in his knowledge of the woods; and in
proportion as he estimated his knowledge highly, he
was now greatly mortified as was evident from his
whole bearing.  The doctor, seeing this, from the
kindness of his nature stepped in to the mortified
forester's relief.
"Never mind it, Powell," he observed, blandly.
" It don't at all impugn your woodcraft in our opinion. Daniel Boone himself would get lost out here
in a cloudy day. But let Conway try it for a while,
as proposed. It's just trying his luck, you knowwhich may fail too."
"I would rather Powell should keep the lead -
he knows more about the woods than I do," said
old Conway, a little infirm of purpose.
"cNo, I have missed it once," observed Powell,
" and it's but fair that Conway should try it."
" It's no such mighty matter," said Trip; " I could
do it myself!"
" I'll bet," answered Peter, "that if we were to
follow you, we wouldn't get five miles away from
where we are now standing in the next three weeks!"
187 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"Your luck, Trip," said the Master, "couldn't
bring us out, by possibility, anywhere else than at
the exact opposite point to that we are aiming for!"
" Ugh-uh!" replied Trip.  "If you follow me,
I'll hit the Fairfax stone in an hour. I feel, and
have felt, all the morning, somehow, as if it ought
to be over here. And you all know, gentlemen,
I've a sort of lean that way."
"That's exactly my opinion," said Powell.  "I
would be willing to bet on it, that it is just in the
direction Mr. Todd says. That's the course I've
been arguing for with Conaway."
" Come, give up the point, Powell."
"Blast the crooked wilderness, that I should have
got turned around so! I a'n't worth anything any
longer!" 
":Never mind it, Powell.  Man is prone to error."
"That's what old Davy Waddell says," observed
the doctor.
" How was that, Adolphus?"
"You all know Davy, gentlemen-"
" Yes -a very shrewd, clear-headed man."
" And a very original one."
"The state hasn't a more remarkable one in its
limits."
"That's a risky remark-there are so many of
them! But what about Davy "
" Well, I'll tell you," resumed the doctor. " Some
years ago, I was at the races down at Baltimore
188 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
about the time the Central club was in its hey-day
- before racing had died down in the  country.
Stevens's'Black Maria' had beaten the Southern
forse in the great race of the season.  But a race
was made by Colonel Johnson, to run'Trifle' agailist
the Northern mare the next day.  Trifle was thein
young, and pretty much unknown. Trifle beat the
race. There was a great deal of excitement about,
and a good deal of money lost and won. After the
race was over, I walked up to the hotel, where there
was a great crowd, and a good deal of loud talking,
laughing, and paying over of money, going on. In
the midst of all this melee, Davy's voice sounded
high above it all, and compelled attention. It seems
that the most of the betters had staked upon Black
Maria-and very naturally too, for she had won the
race of the day before against one of Johnson's best
horses-the'Bonnets of Blue,' I believe.  Davy,
however, had bet on Trifle, and of course he won.
IHe was accordingly in high spirits, and was consoling the losers by explaining to them how prone man
was to arrar, as he called it:  "'Gentlemen, I tell you, you needn't think any
the worse of yourselves for betting on the wrong
mare, for I wish I may never see another horserace
if man a'n't always committing arrar in some shape
or other. It a'n't in his nature to avoid it! Why,
sar, let any man-any intelligent man-any of
you gentlemen around me-any man, sar, who
189 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
doesn't know the geargraphy of the country he's a riding in, come to a place in the woods where the roads
fork, and he's sure to take the wrong fork -he's
sure to do it, sar! And, gentlemen, if there's a cockfight a transpiring anywhere, the most of the betters
are sure to pick out the fowl that's whipped - I never
knew it otherwise! Pitch up a handful of coppers
in the middle of a bar-room that's full of people,
and some two or three, by chance-altogether by
chance-will say, " Heads," but all the rest of them
will call out, "Tails!" and when you come to pick
up the coppers, it's heads they all are: I never knew
it otherwise, unless thar was some cheating going
on. And now, gentlemen-losers, I'm going to take
the liberty of giving you a little advice-I always
practise on it-and I don't know tlrat I ever lost
any money except when I've been foolhardy enongh
to go against it: and that is, always to bet against
the majority; for I'll be d    d, sar, if I ever have
known'em to be right, except when it was clearly
by chance! You see it must be so-for, seeing as
how man is prone to arrar, the majority of'emn must
go wrong; and the majority being necessarily wrong,
whenever you want to bet your money upon a race,
or cock-fight-at faro, or " sweat," or "double 0,"
or anything at all at which gentlemen pleasure themselves-find out the general opinion, and put up
your money against it, as I did on the Virginiia mare
on principle, and you'll double your pile! you may
190 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
depend upon it, as sure as my name's David Waddle, at your service!'"
"Well, now," said old Conway, "that Waddell
must be considerable of a smart man; for whenever
I've been out in the woods, and didn't know I was
right, I've mostly, I may say, gone wrong."
"What's the opinion here, gentlemen," inquired
Peter, "in regard to the northeast?"
"'That question has neither a majority nor minority attached to it. There are no two of us who
agree on it."
"Allow me to say, gentlemen," observed Peter,
" that this thing is not to be trifled with. It's a very
serious business. Now, it strikes me that there is
something in Davy Waddle's opinion, and that we
ought to act upon it. Something might come out
of it. Let evely man, I say, point to where he
thinks the north is."
It was done, on the word; and the fact was demonstrated that the expedition entertained seven
different opinions on the subject. Of course, it was
impossible, in our case, to act on Waddell's theory
of going right, and we had to give up that chance.
One of three things, therefore, was all that was left
to us: either to follow Powell, who had just walked
us round for two hours in a circle; or trust to Trip's
lean to the Fairfax stone; or stake our deliverance
upon old Conway, who seemed by no means confident in his judgment. Something, however, had
191 
THE BLAOKWATER CHRONICLE.
to be done; and, as is usually the case in such matters, we adopted the wrong alternative-put Conway in the lead, and went to the right, when we
should have gone to the left, as it afterward turned
out.
Now, then, Conway leading, we once more broke
our way through the wild, striking a course that
presently brought us to some laurel. This we skirted
for a while, but at length found ourselves hemmed
in by a great belt of it, spreading everywhere as far
as the eye could see. There is always a stream of
some size in the laurel; and we now plunged into
the brake to see in what direction the water flowed.
If it ran to the right hand, both the hunters agreed
that we would be on the waters east of the Backbone, flowing into the Potomac-and would be on
the right course; if it ran to the left, it would then
be certain that we were still west of the Bone, on
the waters of the Cheat- and therefore on the
wrong course altogether. When we made our way
to the stream, it ran to the left; and hope now put
off farther than ever. There was evident dismay
upon the countenance of the expedition, and something of a disposition manifested to revolt against
the guides-which shows that, notwithstanding all
the talk about man's individual advancement in this
nineteenth century, he is, in and about, the precise
same animal at bottom now that he was when he
murmured at the leading of Moses and Aaron in
192 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
the Arabian wilderness. However, be this as it may,
there was evidently nothing to be gained by mingling
our murmurs, here in the wilds of the Canaan, with
the gentler murmurs of this unknown little stream.
So we crossed over the laurel -which gave us about
as much to do as we could attend to for the timeand, right or wrong, kept on the way we were going; and after about an hour's hard and rather disconsolate work, we came to a halt, on the top of a
ridge, to rest ourselves, and let Peter come up with
us, who by this time was farther behind than was
deemed consistent with his safety. Presently, that
unhappy gentleman came in, looking very much dismantled-his face red-breathing hard-and renewing, for about the hundred and nineteenth time
(according to Triptolemus's arithmetic), his proposition to encamp.
"Oh, this is most damnable!" exclaimed Peter.
"What o'clock is it?"
"You had better ask,' What's the latitude?"'
"I take it," said Powell, "it is somewhere between dinner-time and suppel-time."
"Is there anything to eat?" asked Peter.  "I'm
suffering for food; my strength is nearly gone!"
"Conway, give him a raw trout out of your basket," replied the artist.
"Have you any bread?" inquired Peter.
"Not a crumb."
"Nor any meat?"
9
193 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
":No meat- not a bite!"
" Well, that settles it-we must encamp, and let
the hunters go out and shoot a deer."
" No, not so, we must get into the settlements at
all hazards," interposed the artist.
" If the sun would only come out, I'll insure it
to reach the horses yet to-day," said Powell.
"If I could have had any idea of this," rejoined
Peter- " that I should be walked to death in this
manner-I don't think-"
"Don't think anything! It's clear that all we
have to do is to go on. We may get out somewhere.
If we stay here, we may starve."
At this moment, in the midst of all these doubts
and fears of ours, and the perplexity and bewilderment of the guides, some one thought he discerned
something like a slight lighting up of the clouds.
This led to a very excited debate, maintained with
great ability on all sides, whether it indicated the
position of the sun, or might not be just as well
caused by the wind getting up in that quarter. After a good deal said, however, that we will not stop
to record here-all of which was strongly characterized by the different mental and moral peculiarities
of the various parties to the discussion -it was at
length put to the vote and passed, that no man should
henceforth say a word upon the question as to where
the four points of the compass were, but that the
matter should be left to the two hunters, upon whose
194 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
deliberations, undisturbed by any suggestions of
ours, the fate of the expedition should entirely depend. Powell and Conway, therefore, undisturbed
by any confusing opinions of ours, presently came
to a determination as to their course, and off we
struck again through the wilderness.
We will not encumber our narrative with a recital of all that occurred on the march, but merely
state, that the route we had fallen on in our bad
luck, led us through about as rugged, as savage,
and as difficult a wilderness, as a man could well
get into; that we climbed hills so steep that we
had to pull ourselves up by clinging to anything
we could lay hold of, and get down them as best
we could-that we were now all the time either
crossing mountain-tops, or clambering their sides,
or plunging into the laurel that filled the ravines
between; that sometimes the dead trees would
cover the ground everywhere before us -lying six
feet high when we would come to scale themn, and
often so decomposed that we would sink into them
up to the waist. It was- through such a wild that
we now forced our way; until, at length, somewhere about five o'clock in the evening, jaded and
much exhausted for want of food, that part of the
expedition that was in the advance called a halt in
f,'ont of some very extensive laurel just ahead, the
look of which made it necessary, in the opinion of
the guides, to hold a council of war.
195
VI 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICT,E.
"This time we straggled in at considerable intervals-an indication of our weary plight; and each
one, as he came in, instead of sitting down as usual,
unstrapped his wallet, and stretched himself out at
full length on the moss, wet as it was from the rain
of the day. Up to this time no one had entertained
the idea, seriously, that we would not be able to
get out of the Canaan some time or other during
the day. But that hope was now failing us; and
although we had nothing to eat, it was seriously
deliberated whether we had not better build a fire
and prepare to pass the night where we were. But
at this time, the clouds that had obscured the sky all
day, broke away, and the wind rising, the sun
presently shone out; whereupon it was determined
to make one more effort to get out, and if that
failed, then to encamp, roast the few trout we had
for a supper, and take the chances of killing a deer
in the morning for our breakfast.
This determination met with no favor from Peter,
who was dead opposed to any further walking for
the day. He urged the advantage of encamping in
a great many points of view-but all to no avail;
and, finally, as a last resort, made an appeal to
feeling.
"Well, then, gentlemen, go on. One thing is
certain, that I can go no further. You will have
to leave me behind, if you can reconcile it to your
consciences."
196 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
"Man in a state of nature has very little of that
commodity," said the Prior.
"As for myself," said the Signor, "I am somewhat at best, like the Spanish sharper, who threw
h]is aside in his youth, because he was told it had a
sting."
"You  may make yourselves as merry as you
please with my sufferings," replied Peter, with an
air of resignation, "but it's utterly impossible for
me to go any further. And what is it all for? We
are wandering about here, nobody knows where.
Gentlemen, it's the height of nonsense. Let's encamp and eat something."
" Hadn't we, Peter, much better keep on a little
longer-we might, by chance, get to the horses."
"If we stay here we will never get out," said the
Signor.  "Powell, move on."
"Stop awhile," said Peter, "let me ask a question
of Powell. Powell, have you any distinct idea at
all of where we are?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, Mr. Botecote, I have
not. All the water we have come upon yet, has
been running the wrong way to me. If I could see
some water running to the right of our course, I
should feel satisfied."
"You really give it up then, Powell?"
" No, I don't say I give it up-I only say I don't
know where we are."
"What do you say, Conway?"
197 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"I'd give something to be back on the Blackwater where we started from."
"There it is-I knew it would be so from the
beginning. We don't know where we are. These
hunters haven't the slightest idea themselves. It's
all abominable!  It is perfectly intolerable!  It's
insufferable!  It's"  "It's bad enough, that's true," said one.
"And likely to be worse," said another.
"My heels are rubbed raw," said Galen, "and
will be, I expect, rawer before we get out."
"Towells was right about the Canaan," said
Trip.
"Towers," said the Signor; "Towers, Trip, don't
call him Towells.  You only add to Peter's aggravations."
" He's beyond such niceties now," said the Master.  "It is only when the body's at ease that the
mind is delicate."
"May Towers roast for this!" said Peter.  "It's
as much owing to him, as anybody else, that I came
out into this desert. Hie took very good care, however, not to come himself!"
The expedition, by this time, was well under way
again, skirting the edge of the laurel that lay wide
to the left of us, while the mountain, on whose
slopes we walked, rose high and bold above us, on
the right. Pursuing a course along the rugged and
broken side of the mountain, it was not long before
19S 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
we found ourselves entangled in the midst of some
fallen trees that blocked up the way. This broke
up the single file line of our march; and each man
hunted out for himself the best way to get through,
in doing which, we became a good deal scattered
about the forest. In this dispersion of our forces,
it so fell out, that Galen, stopping astraddle of the
last monstrous hemlock he had to climb over-his
sore heel impelling him thereto-saw something
that he took for an old blaze, on a tree before him.
This he announced in a loud voice; and there
was a general gathering in of the expedition around
him. It was an undoubted blaze. But whether it
led to the Potomac settlements, or those in the
opposite direction on the Chleat, was all matter of
doubt. At all events, it would lead us out somewhere, if it could be traced. With the purpose of
forming some opinion in regard to it, Powell followed it for some distance up the mountain-then
returned, and traced it down the mountain, until he
camne to the laurel. Here he called us to him;
when he and Conway held a very earnest and excited consultation-the result of which was a declaration, that if the blazing continued on through
the laurel, it would, in all likelihood lead us to the
Potomac.
Stimulated by the probability of being near the
Potomrnac, we now broke into the laurel, and forced
our way through its tangled branches with an im
199 
THE BLACKWATER CIHRONICLE.
petuosity that made nothing of its difficulties —
eagerly hunting out the cuts on the trees-now
losing them-now finding them again; until, at
length, we came upon something like an old cattle
path. Down this we made our way, without any heed
to the blaze-half in a run -Triptolemus thrown
out into the bushes occasionally-and Peter full up
with the movement, even when it was at its fastest.
Old Conway was ahead, springing along with the
light and nimble movement of a kitten, notwithstanding the rifle on his shoulder, and the basket
of fish, the coffee-pot, and tin-cups dangling to his
girdle; and presently, he reached the base of the
mountain- where he soon came to the banks of a
stream, and cried out that it was the Potomac.
Powell came up and made proclamation to the same
effect; and The Potomac was shouted all along our
line, as we descended the steeps of what we now knew
was the Backbone: the echoes crying out everywhere The Potomac-the woods and the floods
still reverberate with the voices, even' as we stood
silent on the banks of the laurel-crowned river.
" I knew it, gentlemen, I knew it would be thus.
We were bound to get out," said Peter, very extravagant in his happiness-his genuine characteristics beginning to reveal themselves for the first
time since we abandoned our horses and took to it
afoot. "Yes, gentlemen," he continued, oratorically, " we are out at last- and I will say it, owing
200 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
to a degree of indomitable energy, perseverance,
skill, fortitude, and endurance, and so forth, et
cetera, that has never been matched. It is not to
be denied, that history contains many instances of
desperate achievement, bearing some resemblance
to this deliverance of ours-there is the wellknown case of Moses in the bullrushes -but what
a,e bulliushles, I would like to know, to this all-fired
laurel?  Grass! nothing but grass! Napoleon got
out from the forests of Russia-but how?  With
all his grand army gone!  We stand here, gentlemen, with our ranks yet unthinned by the loss of a
single follower. It is true, gentlemen, I was a little
disconsolate at one time; but then I recalled to
mind the case of Marius sitting among the ruins of
Carthage, in the very acume of his adversity; and
remembering that he was a second time proconsul,
my soul rose up within me, and I would have suffered the last extremity of martyrdom in the shape of
locomotion, before I would have given up.  The
case, also, of Moses and the children of Israel occurred to me; and I determined it should not be
said by posterity that the children could get into
their Canaan, while I wasn't able to get out of ours.
I will even, gentlemen, go so far as to say, that at
that crisis, when I thought we had found out the perpetual motion, from the rounds we were describing
in the forest-I will candidly admit it, out of my
regard for the truth of history-that just then, 1
9*
2o0 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
verily believe I would have submitted to the operation of being eaten by a bear, without feeling any
indignation at the audacious effrontery of such a
procedure. But Allah Akbar!- God is Great!and the bounties of Providence are new every day!
and here I am —you may say in spite of my teeth
-and, indeed, you may say of all the other parts of
my body. When I look back upon my tracks, and
think of the laurel, and the interminable mountains
-and such mountains, and the piles of rotten hemlocks and firs that I have been stuck in-and that I
have been at it now from sunrise, without any intermission, up to this time, six o'clock in the eveningthirteen mortal hours-and all without anything
to eat, may the devil take my lights! as Towers
says, if I am not utterly lost in astonishment at
those powers, hitherto unrevealed to me, that have
stood me out. It's glory enough for any one man's
lifetime: and I tell you all now, if ever you catch
me in the Canaan again, unless it is a horseback,
and with plenty of provisions, my name's not Peter
Botecote. By the way, men, how far off are the
horses from here?  That's a matter to be seen to
at once."
" Well, I reckon, the glade where we left them,
must be some six miles above us," said old Conway.
" At least that," said Powell.
Peter fell again at this information. But upon
Conway's saying that it was not more than some
202 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
three miles to his house through the woods, and by
a path all the way, it was determined to let the
horses stay where they were, and go on at once
afoot.
So we moved on, crossed the Potomac, and struck
into a good path winding through the forest. We
went along at a rapid walk; and even at this fast
gait were urged to go faster by Peter, now dashing
along with a free swing up among the foremost of
the party.  Indeed, you would suppose from the
energy of his movements, that he was walking for
a wager- so reanimated was he at having accomplished the exodus of the Canaan.
At this rate we walked about an hour-and had
yet some two or three miles to go. It was evident
that Conway was tolling us along.  But on we
went, getting down from a pace that was four miles
an hour, to one that was only two; and at length
crossing Laurel run (one of the tributaries of the
Potomac) we ascended the long hill beyond, at
scarcely the rate of a mile an hour.
The lighter part of the expedition rose this hill at
evident advantage, and sat down on a log to rest.
But weight was now beginning to tell effectually;
and the heavy forces advanced at a very slow and
labored pace, each one wheeling in upon the log as
he came up, except Butcut, who passed on without
stopping, or casting even so much as a look to
where we sat.
203 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"Don't you mean to stop and blow, But?"
"Blow the devil! I'm blowing all I can as it is!"
"You had better stop -we have two miles yet
to go."
And upon this announcement Peter wheeled to,
and came down heavily upon a stump near him,
without saying a word.
It was evident now that the expedition was very
nearly on its last legs. Nothing but that fortitude
of endurance, indomitable energy, &c., which Mr.
Botecote had alluded to down on the banks of the
Potomac, had kept it moving up to this time. One
was a little faint-another was dizzy about the
brain-a third had a film over his eyes-Trip said
that there was a humming, and buzzing, and singing
going on in his ears, very much like the running
down of his watch when the main-spring breaks:
every one had something out of gear- even Powell
and Conway were overtasked; and it is certain that
nothing but " the unconquerable free-will" of some
of us, and "the undying hope" of all, to get into
Conway's, kept us from remaining out all night
starved in the woods, unless, maybe, it was a small
flask of brandy, containing about a gill, which the
Prior, with a wise forethought, had brought along
with him as physic for his body in case he should
be bit by a rattlesnake.
The flask was now produced, and each man swallowed a mouthful of it raw. Thus temporarily
204
i 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
propped up, we once more set forward on the
march; and straggling wearily along the now broad
and beaten path, with long intervals between-almost utterly exhausted, we at length, late in the
twilight, defiled from the woods into the open fields
of the Conway possession (held by squatter tenure),
about as dilapidated a set of adventurers as ever
wandered a forest- ragged, tattered, and torn, and
all forlorn-starved, haggard, barely able to drag
ourselves up the gentle slope that led to the cabindoor-the very contrast of the bright, buoyant,
elate, trimly-arrayed, and may we not say it, rather
stylish-looking band, that only four days ago had
witched the world of these regions with our noble
footmanship.
I -the writer of this chronicle- with every faculty of my nature, as I supposed, obliterated by fatigue and starvation-with my head bent down to
my breast- entered the threshold of the old forester's door, and, putting out my hand, took hold of
what I supposed was the hand (extended to me in
welcome) of the mistress of the household; but it
was not hers-it was the soft hand, freshly washed,
of the old man's lithe daughter of seventeen summers; and I take it upon me to say that, broken
down as I was, the touch thrilled every fibre of my
heart-and I raised my head and looked into the
face of the seventeen summers before me-beheld
the red of her cheek and the beam of her young
205 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
eye-and for the moment I thought she might be
Donna Maria Gloriana of Spain, or the queen of
Sheba in all her glory! -such and so great is the
power of " woman divine"' over a man who has been
associating for some time with nothing but men and
bears in a wilderness. Holding Gloriana Conway's
hand as daintily as if it had been the queen of
Spain's, my soul revived within me. But when I
let it go, I relapsed straightway into my former
nothingness. It was but like the swallow of brandy,
a temporary stimulant, and nothing more; so I
;i
acted upon a sounder philosophy, and dipped in
with the rest into the insides of a monstrous pumpkin-pie, that was already more than half-devoured.
206
"Ii!
A_~~~I 
HOW WE GOT OUT OF THE CANAAN.
"I thank Heaven," said Peter, scarcely intelligible, owing to an over-large mouthful, " for this deliverance!" And as his heart revived within him,
he grew classical, and repeated with much unction
the happy words which Gil Blas wrote over his door
at Lirias:
"Inveni portum. Spes et fortuna valete,
Sat me lusistis, nune ludite alios"
"Gentlemen," said the artist, speaking too out of
the fullness of his mouth as well as of his heart" the knight of the gloomy countenance brightens.
He has scarcely yet set his foot within the precincts
of civilization, and the immortal creation of Le Sage
rises unbidden to his thoughts!"
" It is clear But was never intended for savage
life," observed one.
"He hasn't made a joke since we've been out,"
said Trip.  " The first time he gave any symptoms
of being himself again, was when he made that
speech- back on the banks of the Potomac- about
Marius and Moses."
" He's lucky he wasn't born an Indian," rejoined
the artist.
And to these, and many other such remarks, Mr.
Peter Botecote made once in a while a reply; but
what he said must for ever remain lost to the world
-for his mouth was so full, that nobody could possibly make it out.
After a satisfactory supper, which in due course
207 
THE BLAOKWATER CHRONICLE.
of time was prepared for us by the family of the
hospitable old hunter- consisting of fried bacon
and eggs, broiled venison, some of the trout Conway
had brought home, a large coffee-pot of strong coffee,
bread, milk, butter, honey, maple-sirup, and various
comfits and preserves-which we mention here to
show how well stocked is the home of a deer-hunter
in the Alleganies-we stretched ourselves out side
by side, on some pallets spread down on the floor
before the fire, and in a few moments were all dead
asleep.
And so ended the day we got out of the Canaan.
208 
THE RETURN TO WINSTON.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE RETURN TO WINSTON-cc BOOTLESS HOME AND
WEATHER-BEATEN BACK."'
WE remained at Conway's next day until about
one or two o'clock. Our horses had broken out of
the dale on the Potomac, and had returned to Towers's the day after we abandoned them. They had
been put back, and again had left- which escapes,
in justice to the rhododendron fencing, we must record it, were effected through the barricade at the
point of entrance into the dale; in other words,
they had escaped by the way they got in: we had
not secured the bars effectually. They had been
seen passing by Conway's only a few hours before
we arrived. Supposing Towers would send them
back this morning, we waited, keeping a lookout
from the house.
In the meantime, Conway's two boys were despatched to the dale, six miles off, for our saddles
and bridles, &c.; and with instructions to go up the
mountain beyond, to the Elk-lick, and get Mr. Botecote's Yankee blanket- which was left there hung
upon a tree, as the reader will remember, when
Peter'made his first proposition to turn back.
It was a beautiful morning of the early summer,
209 
THE BLAOKWATER CHRONICLE.
and we lay idly about on the grass, basking in the
sunshine, and commenting upon many things pleasantly enough. As the conversation referred chiefly
to our expedition and its incidents, we will relate
somne of it before we leave.
Mr. Botecote was restored to all his natural vivacity and pleasantry. Hils eye twinkled, and his
countenance was bright. He was again in his
proper element of civilization.
"Well, gentlemen," he observed, "I've been
thinking about it, and it is my opinion that there
is no life like this of the wilderness, after all. It's
astonishing, Galen, what an amount of hardship a
man can endure! No man can tell what he is until he is tried.  Powell, do you think that tract of
land can be bought?"
"No doubt of it, MIr. Botecote."
"How many acres are there?"
" Five thousand."
"And for how much?"
Sixty cents an acre."
That's three thousand dollars.  I'll buy it."
It's the finest tract in all the country; there's
not fifty acres of bad land in the whole of it, and it's
all finely watered," answered Powell, encouraging
the purchase.
"I'll join you in the purchase, Peter," said Adolphus. " As soon as we get back to Winston, we'll
write, right away, and secure it."
210 
THE RETIJRN TO WINSTON.
" I'm afraid we've lost Peter and Adolphus," observed the artist.
" Oh, that's certain- indeed, I doubt whether
they will go back with us at all," replied the Master.
" I can't imagine a more happy life," said Peter,
" than a man could live out here-here in the midst
of these grand mountains, these noble trees, these
perfect waters; the wilderness close at hand for his
recreation, with its innumerable deer and trout;
the railroad only some ten or twenty miles off, and
which you can reach by a road through beautiful
glades all the way-that is, after you have got
over the Backbone. Adolphus, we must build
ourselves a lodge upon our estate. I shall construct something after the old Saxon architecture,
that shall look baronial-have great, huge fireplaces, to burn whole loads of wood in at a time;
-and a big hall, hung round with trophies of the
chase.-"
And here Galen broke in: " Yes -and when our
friends come up, we will summon Powell and Conway, and all the other foresters, and make inroads
into the wilderness-encamp out there, and fish,
and shoot the deer."
"Deer! -Nothing so small as that — bears and
panthers- elk at the least," said the artist.
" I would have the Canaan as a park," said the
Master, "and cut, But, drives through the gorges
and defiles of the mountains; bridge the laurel, and
211 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
have a tower at the falls of the Blackwater, with a
good cook in it-such a one as Peter would recommend -and lounges and cushions of the softestwith a harp or so, and two or three grand pianos,
to play swelling themes in accord with the sublime
music of the torrent roaring down the Alleganies!"
"I am not building castles, gentlemen,"' observed
Peter with earnestness; "far from it, gentlemen!
Never was more in earnest in my life. Why, that
five thousand acres, and the others that I would buy
in the course of time, would be an immense inheritance to my children! Why, sir, in twenty years,
the whole of it would be worth fifty dollars an acre
at the least.  The railroad, when finished, will open
out the country to market at once: it will make
tidewater at your door! As fine a country as our
Valley is, I would infinitely rather live here!"
Mr. Peter Botecote, it will be perceived, was a
very altered man in his feelings this morning. He
was no longer the knight of the gloomy countenance. But rowdy and ragamuffin as he seemed
externally to the eye, the soul of Philip Sydney was
in him, or any highly imaginative, poetic, and sublimated gentleman; and Hope spread before him
all her illusions
"Smiled, enchanted, and waved her golden hair"
and all-happy visions of the wilderness didn't spare
his aching sight.  But, we are not deriding Peter.
212 
THE RETURN TO WINSTON.
Mtiuch of that gentleman's enthusiasm has substantial
foundation.  The railroad must put this noble coantry alongside of the sea; and the forest must be
cleared away for the plough, and the water-power
everywhere must be used, and the coal dug out of
the earth, and the ores, the gypsum, the salt, and
the lumber, turned into wealth; and therefore the
land (such land! that can be bought now from sixty
cents to a dollar an acre!) must be worth fifty dollars-and that at no very distant day.  But all this
is to be done by the hardy enterprise of men ill
whose souls poetry and imagination are not predominant-by men with necessity at their elbow,
who are resolute upon acquisition, and who have
been trained to the rougher realities of life; not by
a set of daintily-nurtured gentlemen, to whom life
has been but little else than an agreeable pastimne,
whose disquiet has been only the loss of some pleasurable gratification, whose greatest suffering has consisted in being lost for a day in the wilds of the Canaan- a wilderness - but a wilderness of plenty of
deer and trout.
" Peter is delightful to me this morning, gentlemen; I never saw a happier countenance," observed
the Master.
" Perfectly delicious," responded the artist; " he's
blossoming like the rose in the wilderness:
"'0 my love is like the red, red rose,
That's newly blown in June!"'
213 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
"IHe is happy, sure enough," said Trip. "And
he looks natural to me to-day out of his eyes. But
yesterday, sitting down on that soft, mushy log, I
don't think his nearest neighbor would have recognised him."
"There was a grand gloom on him just about
that time: he looked like the pictures of Napoleon
on the rock at St. Helena."
"I never had any idea of Philips's grand, gloom,y,
and peculiar- a 8ceptred hermit, &c., before.  I
see now, however, distinctly the sort of picture of
a man the Irish orator must have had in his mind."
" Signor, you ought to have sketched him."
"I have him in my mnind's eye, gentlemen: Marius, sitting among the ruins of Carthage, won't be
able to hold A candle to him, after I shall have
limned him!"
" Trip, you needn't say anything," retorted Peter;
"for when the hunters admitted we were lost, your
eyes grew very big."
"Well, it did look a little scary to me about that
time," answered Trip, "particularly when I saw the
Signor there hunting about for the snails, and putting them in his pockets.  You see, I thought of
Towell's story about the lost il:an out there.  And,
now I think of it, I shall retract to Connells my disbelief as soon as I get a sight of him." -
"Call him Towers, if you please, my dear fellow,
Trip; just put your mind upon it- Towers- Tower8! It would be some amends to him."
214 
THE RETURN TO WINSTON.
And here Peter frankly acknowledged the fact
that he was very much broken down and a good
deal disconsolate at times; but that, notwithstanding, the pleasure of the expedition was very great
to him.
"And, gentlemen," he continued, with much enthusiasm, "I'll go in with you again, at any time
you may choose to name, provided only you let me
have about a month's notice, so that I may put myself in training beforehand. Indeed, I think, the
next time, I'll take it afoot from home. They have
got to making these wagons now to run so easy, that
a man who uses them must lose eventually all his
walking powers-that fine elasticity of musclethat wiry agility -that free, unimpeded respiration
-that everything that is native and to the manner
born, I may say, to man, as my experience of the
wilderness satisfies me-that-in fine, gentlemen,
I shall foot it, I think, for the rest of my days!"
"Right, Peter-down with the wagon!" said the
artist.
"And up with the saddle-horse again!" replied
the Master.  "I will join with you in any reformation of the times that has for its object the ascendency of the saddle. Bring the republic back to
that, and I shall have hopes of it.  This foot-work
is sufficiently cared for over the land; any fellow
that has two legs can get at it. But how many of
our people are there of this generation who can ride
215 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
a real horse! Cavalry are as essential to our national greatness as infantry.  While many go afoot,
it is essential that some at least should go a-horseback. Where would the nation be to-day, if it had
not been for that race of men who were trained in
the saddle-those men of' earth's first blood'- the
gentlemen who rode the blooded horses that were
descended from the loins of the Godolphin Arabian?
Don't tell me, Peter, that these men, heroic as they
would have been anyhow, had not some elevation
given to their heroism by the nobilities of nature
begotten of the saddle. Imagine Washington without his charger! Think of him, if you can, afoot!
Or can the idea of him even enter into your brain,
as a man driving a fast trotter, at about two twenty,
over a plank-road!  Could Alexander of Macedon
ever have been Alexander the Great, had he not
been the Alexander who could ride Bucephaluss?
Shakspeare understood all about it when he made
Richard rage about Bosworth-field for a horse!"
"'A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!'"
here ranted Peter, breaking in upon the Master;
and, throwing himself into a very theatrical position,
he went on, and enacted the whole of the battle-scene
-out-raging Kean or Booth even-to the great
wonderment of Powell and Conway, and the whole
of Conway's family, who came out bewildered to
the perfornmance. At length, having got through
216 
THE RETURN TO WINSTON.
the play, Peter went on to learn from his two foresters the expense of clearing the timber from his
proposed estate; - which information was, when
summed up and digested, in and about as follows:
A good day-laboror would belt an acre a day;
and he could be hired for fifty cents a day. One
man, therefore, in a hundred days, would belt or
deaden  one hundred acres.  Ten men, in that time,
would belt a thousand acres, and at a cost of five
hundred dollars. A thousand acres of the forest
then, could be easily deadened by the next spring.
As soon as this is done, the ground being freed from
the tax made upon it by the growth of the trees,
and the sun let in, it would, in the first season,
grow up in timothy, the spontaneous growth of
these wilds. This thousand acres in that condition
would graze, the first year, some five hundred head
of cattle, which could be had at a dollar a head for
the season. The estate would yield, then, for the
first year, five hundred dollars. The next year, the
same thousand acres would graze a thousand head
of cattle- that is a thousand dollars it would yield
the second year. The third year you could harrow
over the ground, sow some grass-seed additional,
maybe, in places, and go to making hay for winter
use.             This yea r  you could buy young cattle at
eight and ten dollars a piece, and having the hay to
keep them over winter, sell them the next year at
eighteen or twenty dollars a head. Some two hun
10
217 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
dred acres of the thousand being kept for hay, you
could cut from them at least two tons to the acre.
A ton of hay is good allowance for the support of a
steer through the winter.   Therefore you could
keep some four hundred head over the winter; four
hundred would be worth seven or eight thousand
dollars gross -equal to some three or four thousand
dollars clear. The fourth year the roots of the trees
would be all dead, and your land fit for cultivation
-for raising wheat, rye, oats, potatoes, or whatever
else the climate and soil would allow; and by this
time the land kept in timothy would grow from
three to five tons of hay to the acre.
From this digest of the information communicated by Powell, the reader will perceive that the
speculation will be a grand one in a money point
of view; and Peter and Adolphus were already, in
their mnind's eye, great cattle-raisers, with numerous
herdsmen, and almost innumerable bullocks over
their vast possessions- say some fifty thousand
acres apiece-here on the slopes and lawns of the
Backbone; and their houses were filled, during
the summer months, with gentlemen and ladies,
who hunted and rode, fished, eat the trout, the
broils, and roasts and pastries of the deer, with
bear's meat, and  panther or  wild-cat collopsgrew fat and defied the world below, in the pastimes of the wilderness- then a wilderness made
easy of ingress and egress by fine graded roads, cut
218 
THE RETURN TO WINSTON.
out by the great proprietors, Peter and Galenwhose two castles of old Saxon architecture, built
on either slope of the mountain, would enable the
Backbone to frown down on the Potomac on the
one side, on the Blackwater on the other, as -
"The castled crag of Drakenfels
Frown's o'er the wide and winding Rhine."
In the meantime, while all this future was entering deep into the hearts of the two lords paramount
of these regions- the duke of Canaan, and the
baron of the Backbone-Andante and the Master
were stretched out upon the grass, a little distance
off, commenting upon the scene around them.
"Did you ever see a more perfectly ruffianlooking couple of fellows in your life, than those
two great landholders yonder."
" They put me in mind of the vagabond banditti
that used to infest the stage in Fra Diavolo."
"I don't think you look any better, Guy!"
"Nor I, you, Signor!  If I were to meet you
alone on the highway, I would give you a very
wide berth.   I don't think I have ever seen in
painting, or read of in description, a more unmnlitigated ruiffian than you look!"
" Trip, sprawled out yonder, comes up to my idea
of a red republican crippled in the leg at a barricade."
"I can understand very well, why we should
look like a set of vagabonds who would steal sheep,
219 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
and pigs, and poultry; but that is not it. There is a
look about us of a set of men who would rob, and
murder, buin, plunder and ravage a whole country.
There is no such look about Powell and Conway."
"I understand it this way," said Andante, "I
think it quite likely, that degrade us from our rank
as gentlemen-take away all the restraints of civilization from us-in other words, put us down on
the Spanish main, and we would discover some
qualities that would be considered right respectable
among pirates."
"What! do you think that of But!"
"No, I except him. If he was to embark in life
on the Spanish main, I think hlie would be taken and
hung."
Here Mr. Butcut, hearing something about his
being captured and hung, the visioned bliss, and
power, and dominion over great estates, &c., &c.,
which filled and thrilled his brain all the morning,
were all obliterated from his mind by the unhappy
idea; and turning his thoughts altogether away
from the Blackwater, he entered into a very earnest
maintenance of the opinion, that he would make as
good a pirate as any gentleman present.
" In fact, gentlemen," he said, concluding his
defence of himself, "I believe, barring, always, the
walking and starving, I would be as efficient a man
as any of you, upon any marauding expedition,
whether by sea or land."
22Q 
THE RETURUN TO WINSTON.
"Feed him enough, and carry him-and I believe so too," said Trip.
After this very just remark of Triptolemus's,
which was assented to on all hands, our horses
came in sight, emerging fiom the woods; and we
began preparations for our departure.
Having paid all expenses at the Hotel Conway,
handsomnely-shaken hands kindly with all the
family (amounting to some eight or ten, big and
little), especially taking care not to forget the oldest
daughter of the old forester, who had a soft hand
and a kindling eye, and was a very modest, and
very pretty maiden of some seventeen summers,
we turned our steps Towers-ward; and half of us
a-foot, and half a-horse, we defiled into the forest,
presenting to the eye a very good picture of lhe
vagabond picturesque in scenery. As we went out
we might have passed well enough for the nobler
order of outlaws-such as Robin Hood, and Little
John, and Will Scarlet; and Butcut would have
done for the jolly friar-but now, all tattered and
torn, the glory of our trim array all gone- our
plumage drooping, and general aspect beggarly,
we more resembled a band of the inferior banditti
who infest the neighborhood of pig-pens and poultry
yards. Still we were picturesque of aspect; and
as we followed the winding horsepath, up the hillsides and down the steeps- now through the little
streams that made their way to the Potomac- into
221 
THE BLACKWATER CHRONICLE.
the dells, and through them, and up out of them
again, until we reached the cone of the Backbone;
and so, on and along it, until we came out into the
northwestern highway-there were many points of
view in which an artist could have made a picture
of our march, worthy of being hung up anywhere
in the halls and bowers of our land. Indeed, the
Signor says, that he has it now in his mind's eye,
and that some day, when his genius is sufficiently
inspired, he will render the expedition as memorable
as that of Xenophon, by putting it on canvass as it
wound its way out dismantled through the romantic
scenery of the Backbone; choosing this one of its
many aspects, by which to perpetuate its remembrance, because, as there is dignity in sufferings
endured, its great toils and hardships will be impressed more fully upon the mind, by the tatterdemallion aspect that so thoroughly belonged to it, as
it approached its end.
After reaching the highway we have nothing
more to record, except that the travellers along the
road, in every instance, gave us the track by shying
off to the right or the left, out of our way; and that
they returned our salutation with a glad and subservient courtesy; which shows that the people
who travel these regions, are either very civil in
their manners, or that they took us for a band of
most desperate ruffians, which, we leave the judicious reader to determine. Thus, in full and un
222 
THE RETURN TO WINSTON.
disputed possession of the right of way to the whole
or  a ny part of the northwestern turnpike that we
chose to take, we at length, at about five o'clock in
the afternoon of the fifth day, dismounted at Towers's
gate, all alive and well-restored by Heaven to the
regions of civilization-toughened, roughened, high
in        health, strong in limb, and joyously elate with
the achievement of our hardy enterprise; as          "Full of spirit as the month of May."
though not quite so          "Gorgeous as the sun at midsummer."
And  so ends the adventure into the Canaan
wilderness of Randolph.
Here, also, ends this Blackwater Chronicle.
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"These volumes present a comprehensive view ol the results of the combined labors
of travellers, artists, and scientific explorers, which have effected so much during the
present century toward the development of Egyptian archaeology and history."-Jour.
nal of Commerce.
"The descriptions are very vivid and one wanders, delighted with the author, through
,,he land of Egypt, gathering at every step, new phases of her wondrous history, and
ends with a more intelligent knowledge than he ever before had, of the land of the
Pharaohs." —American Spectator.
COMPARATIVE PHYSIOGNOMY;
Or Resemblances between Men and Animals. By J. W. REDFELED,
M.  D.       In  one  vol.,  8vo, with  several  hundred  illustrations.
price, $2.00.
" Dr. Redfield has produced a very curious, amusing, and instructive book, curious
!n its originality and illustrations, amusing in the comparisons and analyses, and in.
"tructive because it contains very much useful information on a too much neglected
.~ubject.  It will be eagerly read and quickly appreciated."-Nation7al Egis.
"The whole work exhibits a good deal of scientific research, intelligent observation,
and inlenoity."-Daily Union.
"Highly entertaining even to those who have little time to study the science."Detroit Daily Advertiser.
"This is a remarkable volume and will be read by two classes, those who study for
information, and those who read for amusement. For its originality and entertaining
character, we commend it to our readers."-Albany Express.
" It is overflowing with wit, humor, and originality, and profusely illustrated. The
whole work is distinguished by vast research and knowledge."-Knickerbocker
" The plan is a novel one; the proofs striking, and must challenge the attention of ths
curious." —Daily Ad'eritser
r i..=        " 
R F.DFIELD'S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS.
NO'TES AND EMENDATIONS OF SUAKESPEA t..
Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakespeare's Plays, ftrom
the Early Manuscript Corrections in a copy of the folio of 1 632,
in the possession of JOHN PAYNE COLLIER, Esq., F.S.A.   _'hird
edition, with a fac-simile of the Manuscript Corrections. l vol.
12mo, cloth, $1 50.
" It is not for a moment to be doubted, we think, that in this volume a contribution
has been made to the clearness and accuracy of Shakespeare's text, by far the most inportant of any offered or attempted since Shakespeare lived and wrote."-Lond. Exam.
" The corrections which Mr. Collier has here given to the world are, we venture to
think, of more vaIue than the labors of nearly all the critics on Shakespeare's text put
together."-London Literary Gazette.
" It is a rare gem in the history of literature, and can not fail to command the attention of all the amateurs of the writings of the immortal dramatic poet."-Ch'ston Cour.
It is a book absolutely indispensable to every admirer of Shakespeare who wishes
to read him understandingly."-Louisville Courier.
" It is clear from internal evidence, that for the most part they are genuine restora.
tions of the original plays. They carry conviction with them."-Home Journal.
"This volume is an almost indispensable companion  to any of the editions of
Shakespeare, so numerous and often important are many of the corrections."- Register,
Philadelphia.
TIHE HIS TORY OF'THE CRUSADES.
By JOSEPH FRANVOIS MICHAUD.  Translated by W. Robson, 3 vols.
12mo., maps, $3 75.
"It is comprehensive and accurate in the detail of facts, methodical and lucid in arrangement, with a lively and flowing narrative."-.Tournal of Commerce.
We  need not say that the work of Michaud has superseded all other histories
of the Crusades. This history has long been the standard work with all who could
read it in its original language. Another work on the Same subject is as improbable
as a new history of the' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.' "-Salem Freeman.
" The most faithful and masterly history ever written of the wild wars for the Holy
Land."-Philadelphia American Coutrier.
" The ability, diligence, and faithfulness, with which Michaud has executed his
great task, are undisputed; and it is to his well-filled volumes that the historical stuent must now resort for copious and authentic facts, and luminous views respecting
this most romantic and wonderful period in the annals of the Old World."-Boston
Daily Courier.
MARMA DUKE WYVIL.'
An Historical Romance of 1651, by HEIRY W. HERBERT, author
of the "Cavaliers of England," &c., &c.  Fourteenth Edition.
Revised and Corrected.
"This is one of the best works of the kind we have ever read-full of thrilling incidents and adventut'es in the stirring fimes of Cromwell, and  in that style which has
mad,e the works of Mr. Herbert so popular."-Christian Freeman, Boston.
"The work is distinguished by the same historical knowledge, thrilling incident, and
pictorial beauty of style, which have characterized all Mr. Herbert's fictions and imparted
to them such a bewitching interest."-Yankee Blade.
" The author out of a simple plot and very few characters, has constructed a novel
of deep interest and of considerable historical value.  It will be fouand well worth
reading."-Natiotal zgis, Worcester. 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS.'
DISCOVER Y AND EXPLORATION
Of the Mississippi Valley. With the Original Narratives of Mar  quette, Allouez, Membre6, Hennepin, and Anastase Douay. By
JOHN GILMARY SHEA.  With a fac-simile of the Original Map
of Marquette. 1 vol., 8vo,; Cloth. Antique. $2.00.
A volume of great and curious interest to all concerned to know the early history
,f this great Western land."-Cincinnati Christian Herald.
" We believe that this is altogether the most thorough work that has appeared on the
subject to which it relates. It is the resultof long-continued and diligent research, and
no legitimate source of information has been left unexplored.  The work combines the
interest of romance with the authenticity of history."-Puritan Recorder.
" Mr. Shea has rendered a service to the cause of historical literature worthy of all
praise by the excellent manner in which he has prepared this important publication for
the press."-Boston Traveller.
NEWMAN'S REGAL ROME.
An Introduction to Roman History. By FRANCIS W. NEWMAN,
Professor of Latin in the University College, London. 12mo,
Cloth.  63 cents.
"The book, though small in compass, is evidently the work of great research and
refl,ction, and is a valuable acquisition to historical literature."-Cotrier and Enquirer.
" A work of great erudition and power, vividly reproducing the wonderful era of Roman history under the kings.  We  greet it as a work _'  profound scholarship, genial
art, and eminent interesta work that will attract the scholar and please the general
reader."-N. Y. Evangelist.
"Nearly all the histories in the schools should be banished, and such as this should
take thleir places."- Boston Journal.
"Professor Newman's work will be found full of interest, from the light it throws on
the formation of the language, the races, and the history, of ancient Rome."- Wall,
street Journtal.
THE CHEVALIERS OF FRANCE,
From the Crusaders to the Mareschals of Louis XIV. By HE.NRI
W. H ERBERT, author of "The Cavaliers of England," " Crom
well," "The Brothers," &c., &c.  1 vol. 12rmo.  $1.25.
~  Mr. Herbert is one of the best writers of historical tales and legends in this or an
.)ther country."-Christian Freeman.
"'Ilhis is a work of great power of thought and vividness of pi)cturing.  It is a movino
panoralna of the inner life of the French empire in the days of cliivalhy."-Albalny Spec
" The series of works by this author, illustrative of the ronissice of history, is berv
edly popular.  They serve, indeed, to impart and impress on the mind a great de.Il ol
v,lualile ih-firmation; for the facts of history are impartially exhiliite'l,-ansi  the fictivt
presents a vivid picture of the manners and sentiments of the times." —Journal of Corn
, tiffrce.
The work contains four historical tales or novelettes, marked by that vigor of style
and beauty of description which have found so many admirers among the readers Ii
the a,thbor's numerous romanaes."-Lowell Jour-'al. 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS.
MilOORE'S LIFE OF SHERIDAN.
Memoirs of the Life of thie Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan,
by THOMAS MOORE, with Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Two vols., 12mo, cloth, $2.00.
" One of the most brilliant biographies in English literature.  It is the life of a wit
written by a wit. and few of Tom Moore's most sparkling poems are more brilliant and
fascinratinu than this biography."-B ostot Transcript.
"This is at once a most valuable biography of the most celebrated wit of the times,
and one of the most entertaining works of its gifted anthor."-Springfield Republican.
"The Life of Sheridan, the wit, contains as much food for serious thought as the
best sermon that was ever penned."-Arthur's Home Gazette.
"The sketch of such a character and career as Sheridan's by such a hand as Moore's,
can never cease to be attractive."-N. Y Courier and Enq?uirer.
"The work is instructive and full of interest."-Christian Iutelligencer.
"It is a gem of biography; full of incident, elegantly written, warmly appreciative,
and on the whole candid and just. Sheridan was a rare and wonderful genius, and has
in this work justice done to his surpassing merits."-N. Y. Evaagelist.
BARRINGTON'S SKETCHES.
Personal Sketches of. his own Time, by SIR JONAH BARRlrfGTON,
Judge of the High Court of Admiralty in Ireland, with Illustra  tions by Darley. Third Edition, 12mo, cloth, $1 25.
"A more entertaining book than this is not often thrown in our way.  His sketches
of character are inimitable; and many of the prominent men of his time are hit off in
the most striking and graceful outline."-Albaay Argus.
" He was a very shrewd observer and eccentric writer, and his narrative of his own
life, and sketches of society in Ireland during his times, are exceedingly humorous and
interesting."-N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.
"It is one of those works which are conceived and written in so hearty a view, and
brings before the reader so many palpable and amusing characters, that the entertain
ment and information are equally balanced."- Boston Transcript.
"This is one of the most entertaining books of the sesson."-N. Y. Recorder.
"It portrays in life-like colors the characters and daily habits of nearly all the EHng
lish and Irish celebrities of that period."-N. Y. Courier and Enquirer.
JOMINI'S CAMPAIGN OF WATERLOO.
The  Political  and  Military History of the Campaign of Waterloo,
from  the French of Gen. Baron Jomini, by  Lieut. S. V.  B:NET,
U.  S. Ordnance, with a Map,  12mo, cloth, 75 tents.
"Of great value, both for its historical merit and its acknowledged  impartiality."Christian Freeman, Boston.
"It has long been regarded in Europe as a work of more than ordinary merit, while
to military men his review of the tactics arid manceuvres of the French Emperor dur.
ing.the few days which preceded his final and most disastrous defeat, is considered as
instructive, as it is interesting."-Arthur's Home Gazette.
" It is a standard authority and illustrates a subject of permanent  interest.  With
military students, and historical inquirers. it will be a ifavorite reference, and for the
general reader it possesses great value and interest."-Boston Transcript.
" It throws much light on often mooted points respecting Napoleon's military and
political genius.  The translation is one of much vigor."-Boston Commolwealth.
"It supplies an important chapter in the most interesting and eventful period of Napoleon's military career."-Sovannah Daily News.
" It is ably written and skilfully translated."-Yankee Blade. 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS.
MACAULAY'S SPEECHES.
Speeches by the Right Hon. T. B. MACAULAY, M. P., Author of
" The History of England," " Lays of Ancient Rome," &c., &c.
Two vols., 12mo, price $2.00.
"It is hard to say whether his poetry, his speeches in parliament, or his brilliant
essays, are the most charming; each has raised him to very great eminence, and would
be sufficient to constitute the reputation of any ordinary man."-Sir Archibald Alison.
It may be said that Great Britain has produced no statesman since Burke. who has'
united in so eminent a. degree as Macaulay the lofty and cultivated genius, the eloquent
oratcr, and the sagacious and far-reaching politician."-Albany Argus.
"We do not know of any living English orator, whose eloquence comes so near the
ancient ideal-close, rapid, powerful, practical reasoning, animated by an intense earnestness of feeling."- Courier 4 Enquirer.
"Mr. Macaulay has lately acquired as great a reputation as an orator, as he had formerly won as an essayist and historian. He takes in his speeches the same wide and
comprehensive grasp of his subject that he does in his essays, and treats it in the same
elegant style."-Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.
"The same elaborate finish, sparkling antithesis, full sweep and copious flow of
thought, and transparency of style, which made his essays so attractive, are found in
his speeches.  They are so perspicuous, so brilliantly studded with ornament and illustration, and so resistless in theIr current, that they appear at the time to be the wisest
and greatest of human compositions."-NewYork Evangelist.
TRENCH ON PROVERBS.
On the Lessons in Proverbs, by RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH, B. D.,
Professor of Divinity in Krng's College, London, Author of the
" Study of Words."   12mo, cloth, 50 cents.
"Another charming book by the author of the "Study of Words," on a subject which
is so ingeniously treated, that we wonder no one has treated it before."-Yankee Blade.
"It is a book at once profoundly instructive, and at the same time deprived of all
approach to dryness, by the charming manner in which the subject is treated." —Arthur's Home Gazette.
"It is a wide field, and one which the author has well cultivated, adding not only to
his own reputation, but a valuable work to our literature."-Albany Evening 7ranscript.
"The work shows an acute perception, a genial appreciation of wit and great re.
search. It is a very rare and agreeable production, which may be read with profit and
delight."-New York Evangelist.
"The style of the author is terse and vigorous-almost a model in its kind."-Port
iand Eclectli.
Or
THE LION SKIN
And the Lover Hunt; by CHARLES DE BERNARD. 12mo, $1.00.
"It is not often the novel-reader can find on his bookseller's shelfa publication so full
of incidents and good humor, and at the same time so provocative of honest thought."
-National (Worcester, Mass.) _Egis.
"It is full of incidents; and the reader becomes so interested in the principal personages in the work, that he is unwilling to lay the book down until he has learned their
whole history."-Boston Olive Branch.
"It is refreshing to meet occasionally with a well-pubished story which is written for
a story, and for nothing else-which is not tipped with the snapper of a moral, or
loaded in the handle with a pound of philanthropy, or an equal quantity of leaden phi,
losophy."-Springfield Republican. 
REDFIELD'P NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATJONS.
A STRAY YANKEE IN TEXAS.
A Stray Yankee ill Texas. By PHILIP PAXTON. With Illustla.
tions by Darley. Second Edition, 12tmo., cloth. $1 25.
"The work is a chef d'cvuvre in a style of literature in which  our country has no
rival, and we commend it to all who are afflicted with the blues or ennui, as an effec
tial means ot tickling their diaphragms, and giving their cheeks  a holyday."-BostotL
Yaenkee Blade.
" We find, on a perusal of it, that Mr. Paxton has not only produced a readable, but
a valuable book, as regards reliable information op Texan affairs.-Hartford Christian
Secretary.
"The book is strange, wild, humorous, and yet truthful.   It will be found admirably
descriptive of a state of society which is fast losing its distinctive peculiarities in the
rapid increase of population."-Arthur's Home Gazette.
" One of the richest, most entertaining, and, at the same time, instructive works one
could well desire."-Syracuse Daily Journal.
"The book is a perfect picture of western manners and Texan adventures, and will
occasion many a hearty laugh in the reader."-Albany Daily State Register.
*1 
NICK OF THE WOODS.
Nick of the Woods, or the Jibbenainosay; a Tale of Kentucky. By
ROBERT  M.  BIRD,  M. D., Author of  "1Calavar," " The  Infidel,"
&c. New and Revised Edition, with Illustrations by Darley. I
volume, 12mo., cloth, $1 25.
"One of those singular tales which impress themselves in ineradicable characters
upon the memory of every imaginative reader."-Arthur's Home Gazette.
"Notwithstanding it takes the foirm of a novel, it is understood to be substantial truth
in the dress of fiction; and nothing is related but which has its prototype in actual
reality."-A lbany Arguts.
~ It is a talo of frontier life and  Indian warfare, written by a masterly pen, with it
scenes so graphically depicted that they amount to a well-executed painting, at once
striking and thrilling."-,Buffalo Express.
WHITE, RED, AND BLACK.
Sketches of American  Society, during the Visits of their Guests, by
FRANcis and THERESA PULSZKY. Two vols., 12mo., cloth, $2.
' Mr. Pulszky and his accomplished wife have produced an eminently candid and
judicious book, which will be read with pleasure and profit on both sides of the Atlan
tic."-NVCw York Daily Times.
" The suthors have here furnished a narrative of decided interest and value. They
have given us a view of the Hungarian war, a description of the Hungarian passage te
this country, and a sketch of Hungarian travels over the country."-Philad. Christian
Chronicle.
"Of all the recent books on America by foreign travellers, this is at once the most
fair and the most correct."- Phlad. Saturday Gazette.
' Unlike most toreign tourists in the U,nited States, they speak of our institutions,
mannerIs. customs. &c, with marked candor, an,d at the same time evince a pretty thor
ough knowledge of our history."-Hartford Christian Secretary.
" This is a valuable book, when we consider the amount and variety of the informs
tion it contains, and when we estimate the accuracy with which the facts are detailed.
- Worcester Spy 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS.
P()E1TICAL WORKS OF FITZ-GREENE HALLECK.
New and only Complete Edition, containing several New Poems,
together with many now first collected. One vol., 12mo., price
one dollar.
"Halleck is one of the brightest stars in our American literature, and his name is
[ke a household word wherever the English language is spoken."-Albane Express.
"There are few poems to be found, in any language, that surpass, in beauty ol
thought and structure, some of these."-Bostost Commoelwealth.
"To the numerous admirers of Mr. Halleck, this will be a welcome book; for it is a
characteristic desire in human nature to have the productions of our favorite authors
in an elegant and substantial form."-Christian Freeman.
" Mr. Halleck never appeared in a better dress, and few poets ever deserved a better
one."-Christian lntelligencer.
THE ST7'UDY OF WORDS.
By Archdeacon R. C. TRENcli. One vol., 12mo., price 75 cts.
" He discourses in a truly learned and lively manner upon the original unity of lan
guage, and the origin, derivation. and history of words, with their morality and sep
arate spheres of meaning.'-Evening I —.st
" This is a noble tribute to the divin, faculty of speech.  Popularly written, for use
as lectures, exact in its learning, and,oetic in its vision, it is a book at once for the
scholar and the general reader."-New i ork Evangelist.
"It is one of the most striking and original publications of the day, with nothing of
harduess, dullness, or dryness about it, but altogether fresh, lively, and entertaining."
-Boston Evening Traveller.
BRONCHITIS, AND KINDRED DISEASES.
In language adapted to common readers. By W. W. HALL, M.D.
One  vol., 12 mo, price $1.00.
"It is written in a plain, direct, common-sense style, and is free from the quackery
which marks many of the popular medical books of the day. It will prove useful to
those who need it."-Central Ch. Herald.
" Those who are clergymen, or who are preparing for the sacred calling, and publie
speakers generally, should not fail of securing this work."-Ch. Ambassador.
"It is full of hints on the nature of the vital organs, and does away with much superstifious dread in regard to consumption."-Greene County Whig.
This work gives some valuable instruction in regard to food and hygienic infiu.
.nces."-Nashua Oasis.
KNrIGHITS OF EiV6LAND, FRANCE, AND SCOTLAND.
t3y HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT.  One vol., 12mo., price $1.25.
"'I   are partly the romance of history and partly fiction, forming, when blended,
l),rtraitures, valuable from the correct drawing of the times they illustrate, and interest,
ing fr)tom their romance."-Albany Knickerbocker.
" They are spirit-stirring productions, which will be read and admired by all who
are pleased with historical tales written in a vigorous, bold, and dashing style."-Boston
fourn al.
"These legends of love and chivalry contain some of the finest tales which the
e.ilqhic and powerful pen of Herbert has yet given to the lighter literature of the day.'
.t;* oit Free Press. 
REDFIELD'S  NEW   AND   POPULAR  PUTBLiCATIONS
LYRA; AND OTHER POEMS.
By ALIcE CAREY. In one volume, 12mo, cloth, price 75 cts.
"Whether poetry be defined as the rhythmical creation of beauty, as passion or elo
quence in Harmonious numbers, or as thought and feeling manifested by processes of
the imagination, Alice Carey is incontestably and incomparably the first living American
poetess-fresh, indigenous, national-rich beyond precedent in suitable and sensuous imagery-of the finest and highest qualities of feeling. and such powers of creation as the
Almighty has seen fit to bestow but rarely or in far-separated countries."-Bost. Trans.
"The genuine inspiration of poetic feeling... replete with tenderness and beauty,
earnestness and truthful simplicity, and all the attributes of a powerful imagination and
vivid fancy. We know of no superior to Miss Carey among the female authors of this
country."-New York Journal of Commerce.
~ Alice Carey's book is full of beautiful thoughts; there is draught after draught ot
pure pleasure for the lover of sweet, tender fancies, and imagery which captivates
while it enforces truth."-New York Courier and Inquirer.
"'Lyra and other Poems,' just published by Redfield, attracts everywhere, a remark.
able degree of attention. A dozen of the leading journals, and many eminent critics,
have pronounced the authoress the greatest poetess living."-News York Mirror.
4'
LILLIAN, AND OTHER POEMS.
By WINTIIROP MACKWORTH PRAED.  NOW first Collected.  One
Volume 12mo. Price One Dollar.
"A timely publication is this volume. A more charming companion (in the shape of
a book) can scarcely be found for the summer holydays."-New York Tribune.
"They are amusing sketches, gay and sprightly in their character, exhibiting great
facility of composition, and considerable powers of satire."-Hartford Courant.
"There is a brilliant play of fancy in' Lillian,' and a moving tenderness in' Josephine,'
for which it would be hard to find equals. We welcome, therefore, this first collected
edition of his works."-Albany Ezpress.
"As a writer of vers de societe he is pronounced to be without an equal among English authors."-Syracuse Daily Journal.
"The author of this volume was one of the most fluent and versatile English poets that
have shone in the literary world within the last century. His versification is astonishingly easy and airy, and his imagery not less wonderfully graceful and aerial."-Albany
State Register.
THE CAVALIERS OF ENGLAND;
Or, thie Times of the Revolutions of 1642 and 1688. By HENRY
WILLIAM HERBERT. One vol., l12mo., price $1.25.
"They are graphic stories, and in the highest degree attractive to the imagination as
well as instructive, and can not fail to be popular."-Commercial.
" These tales are written in the popular author's best style, and give us a vivid and
thrilling idea of the customs and influences of the chivalrous age."-Christian Freeman.
"His narrative is always full of great interest; his descriptive powers are of an un
,ommon order; the romance of history loses nothing ai his hands; he paints with th(
power, vigor, and effect of a master."-The Times.
"They bring the past days of old England vividlybefore the reader, and impress upon
the mind with indelible force, the living images of the puritans as well as the cavaliera
whose earnest character and noble deeds lend such a lively interest to the legends of
tilt times in which they lived and fought, loved and hated, prayed and revelled."-Ne'
ark Daily.
0 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND POPUI,R PUBLICATIONlS.
CLO VERNOOK;
4)r,. Recollections of our Neighborhood in the West. By ALIc?.
CARFEY.   Illustrated by DARLEY.   One  vol., 12mo., price $1.00.
( Fourth edition.)
"AIn th.s volume there is a freshness which perpetually charms the reader, You seem
t) be made free of western homes at once."-Old Colony Memorial.
"They bear the true stamp of genius-simple, natural, truthful-and evince a keen
sense of the humor and pathos, of the comedy and tragedy, of life in the country."-J
U  Wittier.
DREAM-LAND BY DA Y-LIGHT:
A Panorama of Romance.  By CAROLINE ClESEBRO'.  Illustrated
by DARLEY.    One  vol., 12mo., price $1.25.    (Second edition.)
"These simple and beautiful stories are all highly endued with an exquisite percep
tion of natural beauty, with which is combined an appreciative sense of its relation to
the highest moral emotions."-Albany State Register.
"Gladly do we greet this floweret in the field of our literature, for it is fragrant with
sweet and bright with hues that mark it to be of Heaven's own planting."-Courier atnd
Enquitrer.
"There is a depth of sentiment and feeling not ordinarily met with, and some of the
noblest faculties and affections of man's nature are depicted and illustrated by the si.Uful pen of the authoress."-Churchman.
LAYS OF THE SCOTTISH CAVALIERS.
By WILLIAM  E.  AYTOUN, Professor of Literature and Belles-Let   tres in the University of Edinburgh and Editor of Blackwood's
Magazine. One vol., 12mo. cloth, price $1.00.
"Since Lockhart.and Macaulay's ballads, we have had no metrical work to be comn
pared in spirit, vigor, and rhythm with this. These ballads itmbcdy and embalm the
chief historical incidentSof Scottish history-literally in'thoughts that breathe and
words that burn.' They are full of lyric energy, graphic description, and genuine feel
ing."-Home Journal.
" The fine,ballad of Montrose' in this collection is alone worth the price of the book.'
Bostt  Transcript.
THE BOOK'OF BALLADS.
By Born GAULTIER.  One volume, 12mo., cloth, price 75 cents.
"Here is a book for everybody who loves classic fun. It is made up of ballads of
,11 sorts. each a capital parody upon the style of some one of the be'st lyric writers of
the time, from the thundering versification of Lockhart and Macaulay to the sweetest
and simplest strains of Wordsworth and Tennyson. The author is one of the first
scholars, and one of the most finished writers of the day, and this production is but the
frolic of his genius in play-time-"-Courier and Enquirer.
" We do not know to whom belongs this ntom de plume, but he is certainly a huwcri
of no commc( n power."-Providence Journal.
A
.1 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS.
ISA, A PILGRIMA GE.
By CAROLINE CHESEBRO'. One vol., 12mo., cloth, price $1.00.
" The Pilgrimage is fraught throughout with scenes of thrilling interest-romantic,
yet possessing a naturalness that seems to stamp them as real; the style is flowing and
easy, chaste and beautiful."-Troy Daily Times.
,- Miss Chesebro' is evidently a thinker-she skims not the mere surface of life, but
plunges boldly into the hidden mysteries of the spirit, by which she is warranted in
making her startling revelations of human passion."-Christian Freeman.
" There comes out in this book the evidence of an inventive mind, a cultivated taste,
an exquisite sensibility, and a deep knowledge of human nature."-Albany Argus.
It is a charming book. pervaded by a vein of pure ennobling thought."-Troy Whig.
"There is no one who will doubt that this is a courageous and able work, displaying
genius and depth of feeling, and striking at a high and noble aim "-N Y. Evangelisti.
"There is a fine vein of tenderness running through the story, which is peculiarly
one of passion and sentiment."-Arthur's Home Gazette.
A
LECTURES AND MISCELLANIES.
BY. HENRY  JAMES.    One  vol., 12mo., cloth,  price $1.25.
"A series of essays by one of the most generous thinkers and sincere lovers of truth
in the country. He looks at society from an independent point of view, and with the
noblest and most intelligent sympathy."-Home Journal.
"This is the production of a mind richly endowed of a very peculiar mould. All
will concede to him the merit of a vigorous and brilliant intellect."-Albany Argus.
"'A perusal of the essays leads us to thi'k, not merely because of the ideas which
they contain, but more because the ideas are earnestly put forth, and the subjects discussed are interesting and important to every one."- Worcester National Egis.
"They have attracted much attention both here and in Europe, where the author is
considered as holding a distinctive and prominent position in the scliool of modern
philosophy."-Albany Atlas.
"The writer wields a masterly and accurate pen, and his style is good."-Boston
Olive Branch.
"It will have many readers, and almost as many admirers."-N. Y. Times.
NAPIER'S PENINSULAR WAR.
History of the War in the Peninsula, and in the South of France,
from the Year 1807 to 1814. BY W. F. P. NAPIER, C. B., Col.
43d Reg., &C. Complete in one vol., 8vo., price $3.00.
"We believe the Literature of War  has not received a more valuable augmentation
.hIs century than Col. Napier's justly celebrated work.  Though a gallant combatant in
~le field, he is an impartial historian."-Tribune.
"NAPIER's History, in addition to its superior literary merits and truthful fidelity,
presents strong claims upon the attention of all American citizens  because the author
i a large.-soult'd philanthropist, and an inflexible enemy to ecclesiastical tyranny and
secular despots."-Post.
"IThe excellency of Napier's History results from the writer's happy talent for impetuous, straight-tforward, soul-stirring narrative and picturing forth of characters
The military mancouvre, mnarch, and fiery onset, the whole whirlwind vicissitudes of
the desperate fight, he describes with dramatic force."-Merckants' UIagazine.
S 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATrIONS.
CHARACTERS IN THE GOSPEL,
Illustrating Phases of Character at the Present Day.   By R,ev. g.
H.  CHAPIN.    One  vol., 12mo., price  50 cents.    (Second  edition.)
"As we read his pages, the reformer, the sensualist, the skeptic, the man of the
world, the seeker, the sister of charity and of faith, stand out from the Scriptures, and
join themselves with our own living world."-Ohristian Enqauirer.
"Mr. Chapin has an easy, graceful style, neatly touching  the outlines of his pictures,
and giving great consistency and beauty to the whole. The reader will find admirable
descriptions, some most wholesome lessons. and a fine spirit."-N. Y. Evangelist.
"Its brilliant vivacity of style forms an admirable combination with its soundness Of
thought and depth of feeling."-Tribune.
LADIES OF THE COVENANT:
Memoirs of Distinguished Scottish Females, embracing the Period
of the Covenant and the Persecution. By Rev. JAMES ANDER  SON.   One vol., 12mo., price $1.25.
"It is a record which, while it confers honor on the sex, will elevate the heart, and
strengthen it to the better performance of every duty."-Religious Herald. (Va.)
" It is a book of great attractiveness, having not only the freshness of novelty, but
every element of historical interest."-Courier and Enquirer.
It is written with great spirit and a hearty sympathy, and abounds in incidents of
more than a romantic interest, while the type of piety it discloses is the noblest and
most elevated."-N. Y. Evangelist.
TALES AND TRADITIONS OF HUNGARY.
By THERESA PULSZKY, with a Portrait of the Author. One vol.,
price $1.25.
THE above contains, in addition to the English publication, a NEW PREF,ACE, and
TALES, now first printed from the manuscript of the Author, who has a direct interest
in the publication.
" This work claims more attention than is ordinarily given to books of its class. Such
is the fluency and correctness-nay, even the nicety and felicity of style-with which
Madame Pulszky writes the English language, that merely in this respect the tales here
collected form a curious study.  But they contain also highly suggestive illustrations of
national literature and character."-London Examiner.
" Freshness of subject is invaluable in literature-Hungary is still fresh ground.  It
has been trodden, but it is not yet a common highway.  The tales and legends are very
various, from the mere traditional anecdote to the regular legend, and they have the
sort of interest which all national traditions excite."-London Leader.
SORCERYAND MAGIC.
Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, from the most Authentic Sources.
By THOMAS  WRIGHT, A.M.,  &c.   One  vol. 1 2mo., price $1.25.
"We have no hesitation in pronouncing this one of the most interesting works whica
bas for a lonl time issued from the press."-Albany Express.
"The narratives are intensely interesting, and the more so, as they are evidently writ.
ten by a man whose object is simply to tell the truth, and who is not himself bewitched
bv 4iv fsavcrit th-nrv"  N Y. Rader 
REDIPELD S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS.
r
THE MASTER BUILDER:
Or, l,ife at a Trade.  By DAY KELLOGG LEE, author of " Sum
merfield, or Life on the Farm." One vol., 12mo, price $1.00.
"He is a powerful and graphic writer, and from what we have seen of the pages o.
the' Master Builder,' it is a romance of excellent aim and success."-State Register.
" The' Master Builder' is the master production.  It is romance into which is instilled
the reality of life: and incentives are put forth to noble exertion and virtue.  The story
is pleasing-almost fascinating; the moral is pure and undefiled."-Daily Times.
"Its descriptions are, many of them, strikingly beautiful; commingling in good pro)portions, the witty, the grotesque, the pathetic, and the heroic. It may be read with
profit as well as pleasure."-Argus.
"The work before us will commend itself to the masses, depicting as it does most
graphically the struggles and privations which await the unknown  and uncared-for
Mechanic in his journey through life. It is what might be called a romance, b~not of
love, jealousy and revenge order."-Lockport Courier.
" The whole scheme of the story is well worked up and very instructive."-Albany
Express.
GRISCOM ON VZENTILATION.
The Uses and Abuses of Air: showing its Influence in Sustaining,
Life, and Producing Disease, with Remarks on the Ventilation
of Houses, and the best Methods of Securing a Pure and Whole  some Atmosphere inside of Dwellings, Churches, Workshops, &c.
By JOHrNF H. GRIscOM, M.D. One vol. 12mo, $1.00.
"This comprehensive treatise should be read by all who wish to secure health,
and especially by those constructing churches, lecture-rooms, school-houses, &c.-It
is undoubted, that maniy diseases are created and spread in consequence of the little
attention paid to proper ventilation. Dr. G. writes knowingly and plainly upon this allimportant topic."-NVewark Advertiser.
"The whole book is a complete manual of the subject of which it treats; and we
venture to say that the builder or contriver of a dwelling, school-house, church, thea.
tre, ship, or steamboat, who neglects to inform himself of the nmomentous truths it
asse rts. commits virtually a crime against society."-N. Y. Metropolis.
"When shall we learn to estimate at their proper value, pure water and- pure air,
which God provided for man before he made man, and a very long time before he
permitted the existence of a doctor? We commend the Uses and Abuses of Air to our
readers, assuring them that they will find it to contain directions for the ventilation of
dwellings, which every one who values health and comfort should put in practice." —
t. Y. Dispatch.
HAGAR, A STORY OF TO-DAY.
By ALICE CAREY, author of ", Clovernook," "Lyra, and Other
Poems," &c. One vol., 12mo. price $1.00.
"A story of rural and domestic life, abounding in humor pathos. and that naturalness il character and conduct which made'Clovernook' 80 great a favorite last season.
Passages in'Hagar' are written with extraordinary power, its moral is striking andi
just, and the book will inievitably be one of the most popular productions of the sea.
son.",'
"She has a fine, rich, and purely original genius.  Her country stories are almost
unequaled."-Kiickerbocker Magazine.
"The Times speaks of Alice Carey as standing at the head of the living female writers of America.  WVe go even farther in our favorable judgment, and express the opin
ion that among those living or dead, she has had no equal in this country; and we knotw
of few in the annals of English literature who have exhibited superior gifts of real po
etic genius."-Thy (Portland, Me.) Eclectic. 
REDFIELD'S NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS.
Life under an Italian Despotism!
LORENZO BENONI,
OR
PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF AN ITALIAN.
One Vol., 12mo, Cloth-Price $1.00.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
' THE aithorof Lorenzo Benoni' is GIOVANNI RUFFINI, a native of Genoa, who effected
his escape from his native co untry after the attempt at revolution in 1833.  His book i%
in substance,  an uthentic account of real persons and incidents, though the writer has
chosen to ad,,pt fictitious and faitastic designations for himself and his associates   Since
1833, Rfflini has resided chiefly (if tnot wholly) in England and France, where hi. quali.
ties, we understanod, have secured him respect and regard.  Inl 1848, he was selected by
Charles Albert to fill the responsible situation of emliassador to Paris, in which city he
had loni  been domesticated as a refugee.  He ere long, however, relinquished that offi-e,
and again withdrew into private life.  He appears to have employed the time of his exile
in this countly to such advantage as to have acquired a most uncommon mastery over
the English language. The present volume (we are informed on good authority) is ex.
clusively his own-and, if so, on the score of style alone it is a remnarkable curiosity.
But its matter also is curious "-London Quarterly Review for July.
"A tale of sorrow that has lain long in a rich mind, like a ruin in a fertile country, and
is not the less gravely impressive for the grace and beauty of its coverings... at the
same time the most determined novel-reader could desir e no work more fascinating over
which to forget the flight of time....  No sketch of foreign oppression has ever, we believe, been submitted to the English public by a forigner, equal  or nearly equal to this
volume in literary mnierit.  It is not unworthy to be ranked among contemporary works
whose season is the century in which their authors live."-Londo  Eamin r.
"The book should be as extensively read as'Uncle Tom's  Cabin,' inasmuch as it
develops the existence if a state of slavery and degradation, worse even than that which
Mrs. teecher Stowe has elucidated with so much pathos and feeling."-Bell's Weekly
Messenger.
" Few works of the season will be read with greater pleasure than this; there is a
great charm in the quiet, natural way in which the story is told."-Lonadon Atlas.
The author's great forte is character —painting.  This portraiture is accomplished
with reinalikasle skill, the traits both individual and national being marked with great
nicety without obtrusiveness"-Lo~ndon Spectator.
' Under the modest guise of the biozraphy of an imaginary' Lorenzo Benoni,' we have
here, in faict, the me,tnoir of a man whose name could not be pronounced in certain parts
of n(,rtherii Italy without calling up tragic yet noble historical recollections.... Its
merits, siimply as a work of literary art, are of a very high order. The style is really
beautiful-easy, sprightly, graceful, and fuill of the happiest and most ingenious turns of
phrase and fancy."-North British Review.
" This has been not unjustly compared to' Gil Blas,' to which it is scarcely inferior in
spirited delineations of human character, and in the variety of events which it relates.
But as a description of actual occurrences illustrating the domestic and political condi.
tion of Italy, at a period fraughlit with interest to all clasis of readers, it fib' transcends
in importance any work of mere fiction."-D,4bliii Evening Mail.
II 
CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY
MEN OF THE TIME,
OR SKETCHES OF LIVING NOTABLES,
AUTHORS             ENGINEERS              PHILANTHROPISTS
ARCHITECTS   JOURNALISTS    PREACHERS
ARTISTS             MINISTERS              SAVANS
COMPOSERS    MONARCHS                       STATESMEN
DEMAGOGUES  NOVELISTS                      TRTAVELLERS
DIVINES             POLITICIANS            VOYAGERS
DRAMATISTS   POETS                         WARRIORS
it One Vol., 12mo, containing nearly Nine Hundred Biogr(aph
ical Sketches-PRICE $1.50.
"I am glad to learn that you are publishing this work. It is precisely that kind ol
Information that every public and intelligent man desires to see, especially in reference
to the distinguished men of Europe, but which I have found it extremely difficult ta
obtain."-Extract from a Letter of the President of the United States to the publisher.
"In its practical usefulness this work will supply a most important desideratum."Courier ~ Enqgtirer.
" It forms a valuable manual for reference, especially in the American department
which we can not well do without; we commend it to the attention of our' reading
public.' "-Tribune.
"Just the book we have desired a hundred times, brief. statistical and biographical
sketches of men now living. in Europe and America."-New York Observer.
" It is a book of reference which every newspaper reader should have at his elbowas indispensable as a map or a dictionary-and from which the best-informed will derive instruction and pleasurc."-Evan?gelist.
"This book therefore fills a place in literature; and once published, we do not see
how any one could do without it."-Albany Express.
"It is evidently compiled with great care and labor, and every possible means seems
to have been used to secure the highest degree of correctness. It contains a great deal
of valuable information, and is admirable as a book of reference."-Alban,y Argus.
"It is, to our notion, the most valuable collection of contemporary biographies yet
made in this or any other country. The author acknowledges that its compilation was
a' labor of care and responsibility.' We believe him, and we give him credit for hav
ing executed that labor after a fashion that will command general and lasting approval'-Sunday Times, and Noah's Weekly Messenger.
"This is one of the most valuable works lately issued-valuable not only for general
reading and study, but as a book of reference. It is certainly the fullest collection of
contemporary Biographies yet made in this country."-Troy Daily Times.
" This is emphatically a book worthy of the name, and will secure an extended popularity."-Detroit Daily Advertiser.
" A book of reference unequalled in either value or interest.  It is indeed a grand supplement and appendix to the modern histories, to the reviews, to the daily newspapers
-a book which a man anxious to be regarded as intelligent and well-informed, can no
more do without than a churchman can do without his prayer book, a sailor his navigator, or a Wall street man his almanac and interest tables."-New York Day Book
"The volume once known will be found indispensable, and will prove a constant
cource of information to readers at large."-N. Y Reveille.
" For a book of reference, this volume,ill recommend itself as an invaluable comp,aniion in the library, office, and studio."-lNorthern Budget.
" It is a' living breathing epitome of the day, a directory to that wide phantasmagoria
we call the world."- Wall Street Journal.
Wxe know of no more valuable book to authors, editors, statemnen, and all who
would be  up with the time,' than this."-Spirit of the Times.
"Men of all nations, creeds and parties, appear to be treated in a kindly spirit.  The
work will be found a useful supplement to the ordinary biographical  dictionaries."Conamercial Advertiser.
"The value of such a work can scarcely be over-estimated.  To the statesman and
philanthropist, as well as the scholar and business man, it will be found of great convenience as a reference book,,d miust soon be considered as indispensable to a library
U Webster's Dictionary."-Lockport Courier. 
REDFIU:LD'S NEW  AND  POPULAR  PIJBLICATIONS.
"SHAKESPEARE AS HE WROTE IT,"
THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE,
Replrintedfonom the newly-discovered copy of the Folio of 1632,
in the possession of J. Payne Collier, containing nearly
Twenty Thousand Manuscript Corrections,
JVith a History of the Stage to the Time, an Introduction to
each Play, a Life of the Poet, etc.
BY J. PAYNE COLLIER, F.S.A.
To which are added, Glossarial and other Notes, the Readings of Former
Editiosts, a PORTRAIT after that by Jfartin D)roeshoset, a VIGNETTE TITLE
on Steel, and a FACSIMILE OF THE  OLD FOLIO, with the Manuscript (or  rections. 1 vol, Imperial 8vo. Cloth $4 00.
The WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE the same as the above.
Uniform in Size with the celebrated Chiswick Edition, 8 vols.
16mo, cloth  $6  00.   Half calf or moroc. extra
These are Am?zerican  Copyright Editious, the Notes being expressly prepared
for the work. The English edition contains simply the text, without a single
note or indication of the changes made in the text. In the present, the variations from old copies are noted  by reference of all changes to former etlitipns
(abbreviated I e.). and every, indication and explanation is given essential to a
clear  understanding of the aithor.   The prefatory matter, Life, &c., will be fuller
than in any American edition now published.
"THIs is the only correct edition of the works of the'Bard of Avon' ever issued,
and no lover or student of Shakespeare should be without it."-Philadelphia Argus.
"Alti,)ether the most correct and therefore the most valuable edition extant."-Alba?iy Ezpress.
"This edition of Shakespeare will ultimately supersede all others.  It must certainly
be deemed an essential acquisition by every lover of the great dramatist."-N.  Y. Commercial Advertiser.
"This great work commends itself in the highest terms to every Shakespearian scholar and student. "-Philadelphia Oity Item.
" This edition embraces all that is necessary to make a copy of Shakespeare desirable
an,d correct." —Niagai a Democrat.
iIt must sooner or later drive all others fi;om the market."-N. Y Evesting Post.
"leyond all question, the very best edition of the great bard hitherto published."t wto England Religious Herald.
It must hereafter be the standard edition of Shakespeare's plays."-Natiotal      s.
It is clear from internal evidence that they are genuine restorations of the original plasys "-Detroit Daily Times.
" Tlhis must we think supersede all other editions of Shakespeare hitherto pul i shed.
Collier's corrections make itreally a differentwork from its predecessors.  Co'nlared
with it we consider them hardly worth possessing."-Daily Georgian, Savannah
";One who will probably hereafter be considered as the only true authority.  No one
we think. will wish to purchase an edition of Shakespeare, except it shall be conformatile to the amended text by Collier."-Newark Daily Advertiser.
" A -',u, ft cutery has been made in England against this edition of the bard, by Sin.
ger crd i tliers interested inl other editions; but the emendations c,mmend themselves
too st,ornly to the good sense of every reader to be dropped lIy the ipublic-the old
editions mu,t become obsolete."-Yankee Blade, Boston.